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IC^rturpH  0n  Jnsl|  I|tst0rg 


COPYRIGHT   1915 

BY  MESSENGER  PRINTING  AND  PUBLISHING  CO. 

WORCESTER,   MASSACHUSETTS 


A 

COURSE  OF  LECTURES  ON 
IRISH  HISTORY 


ARKANGED    BY 

THOMAS  A.  McAVOY 

STATE  HISTORIAN   ANCIENT  ORDER  HIBERNIANS 
FOR  MASSACHUSETTS 


DELIVERED    IN    THE    HALL    OF   THE 

ANCIENT   ORDER  HIBERNIANS 

WORCESTER,  MASS. 


PUBLISHED  BY 

THE   MESSENGER   PRINTING   AND   PUBLISHING   CO. 

WORCESTER,   MASS. 

1915 

BOSTON  (JOLLKGK  LI  BRAKY 
CHESTNUT  HILL,  MASS. 


TO  ALL 

AMERICANS 

OF 

IRISH  DESCENT 


^'^S'S»^ 


.ir2506 


FOREWORD 


Publishing  the  following  Lectures  in  book  form 
needs  no  apology  nor  formal  introduction.  The  An- 
cient Order  of  Hibernians  have  ever  stood  steadfast  for 
the  rights  of  the  Irish  people,  and  they  have  very  zeal- 
ously labored  in  season  and  out  of  season  in  all  parts  of 
the  world  to  make  better  known  and  appreciated  Ire- 
land's proud  chapter  in  the  history  of  the  world.  As 
an  important  aid  in  this  good  work  the  Order,  assem- 
bled in  national  convention,  appointed  a  chairman  on 
Irish  history  in  every  state  in  the  union  to  further  this 
good  work — to  urge  the  teaching  of  Irish  history  in  the 
schools,  the  introduction  of  works  upon  Irish  history 
into  public  libraries,  to  refute  and  rebuke  vile  slanders 
and  malicious  falsehoods  in  the  public  press,  and  to  dis- 
seminate authentic  information  relative  to  Ireland  and 
the  Irish  people  by  means  of  public  lectures.  The  state 
historian  for  this  state  has  been  very  active  along  these 
lines,  and  his  efforts  have  been  highly  successful  and 
productive  of  much  good.  As  an  important  contribu- 
tion to  this  good  work  he  planned  and  brought  to  suc- 
cessful issue  an  admirable  course  of  lectures  which 
were  delivered  in  the  A,  0.  H.  hall  in  the  city  of  Wor- 
cester, Mass.,  during  the  winter  of  1913-14.  These  lec- 
tures were  largely  attended  and  they  received  heartiest 
words  of  appreciation  and  praise  from  large  audiences 
and  from  the  thoughtful  and  discerning  when  they  ap- 
peared in  the  public  press  of  the  city  when  delivered. 
Many  people  in  the  higher  walks  of  intellectual  life  pro- 
nounced them  too  important  and  valuable  not  to  be  giv- 
en wider  circulation  in  more  permanent  form,  and  yield- 
ing to  their  urgent  appeals  they  are  now  launched  upon 
the  great  book-world  ocean  where  it  is  hoped  that  they 
will  be  as  favorably  received  and  with  the  same  bene- 
ficial results  as  when  they  were  delivered. 


Ancient    Order  of    Hibernians  in    At 


NATIONAL  OFnCEDS 

JAMES  J  REGAN.  P.^     ■         Si  P.uI  M.oi. 

JOSEPH  McLaughlin,  v  p,o    Ph,i^.  p. 

CHAS  J.  FOY.  CM«ii.ii  VPm..Pcnl..Oiu.Cu. 
P  J  SULLIVAN.  S«,,  .  Tk«mp««..,Il,.  Com, 
Hoo  T  H  MALONEV.  Tvat.  Council  Blu«..  U. 


NATIONAL  DIRECTORS 

REV  WM  T  McLaughlin,   Un.on  Hill.  N.J 
PATRICK  T   MORAN  Wuhmjio..  O  C 

M  F  POWERS         .     •    Ci.cid  R^kU,  M,ch 
WM  J  DOHERTY  .  Lk,c«b.  HI 

MICHAEL  J   BARRY      -  Colunbo..  Oh» 


RIGHT  REV  JOHN  P  CARROLL.  Bi^op 


.  MooUOA.  ChapUi 


ST.  PAUL,  MINTN.,  July  ■'2,  loH. 


C.  J.  Crahan,  Janager, 
Catholic  Messenger, 
.Vorchester,  Maes. 

Decir  tir.   Crahan: 

I  am  pleased  .to  eajr  that  at  a  meetlnp  of  the 
National  Cfficere  and  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Ancient  Order- 
of  Hibemlans  In  America,  held  during  the  National  Conventlor 
at  Norfoia,  firelnia.  In  July  1914,  it  was  unanimouslv  voted 
that  the  National  President  be  authorized  upon  behaltf  of  the 
Board  to  endorse  and  commend  the  book  to  be  published  by  the 
ilessenger  Printing  and  Publishing  Company,  of  -Voroester, 
JaEtachusetts,  which  will  contain  the  series  of  lectures  on  Irish 
Hisitory  and-kindred  subjects  which  were  delivered  In  the  Irish 
History  course  of  the,  Worceoter  Hibernians  during  the  fall  and 
winter  of  1913-1914  at  V/orceeter,  UaBsachusetts.  It  Is  there- 
fore with  pleasure  that  I  hereby  unqualifiedly  indorse  and 
recoranend  the  said  book  to  all  the  members  of  our  glorious 
order  and  to  all  the  lovers  of  our  beloved  motherland  in 
America  as  a  most  excellent  summary  of  I'-ish  History  for 
popular  reading  among  our  people. 

Frateannlly  yours. 


OH. 


Ladles'  iluxiiiarv.  jfMcicBi  (^titr  of  |)ibcrRian$ 


fN   AMERICA 


NA  TIONAL  orricEKS 


MR3    eLLE-J  RV*M  JOLL 

WI6S  S  A  UABONeY.  VIC 

URS.  AOCLIA  OBRISTV.  StcAKfAKI 

:*»  Deckef  Areooa  Cles* 

MftS-  MARy  C  CONNELLY.  TatxSOi 


NATIONAL   DIRECTOftS 


I.  Sy. 


Fasrt-aoiret ,  R.  I. 
Janoary  20,  1315. 

Uaaseager  Printlag  aod  publishing  Co. 
fforcsster,  Meas, 

Gentleiaen:- 

It  la  with  a  great  degree  of  pleasure  that  I 
offloially  endorse  your  Irish  Leotare  Books   I  feel  tr.at  by 
eo  doing  I  em  dolig  no  more  than  this  exoellect  wors  deaerves, 
I  had  the  good  fortana  to  attend  se7eral  of  the  leotcres  and 
etiggeeted  on  more  than  one  occasion  that  they  ahojld  be  pat 
In  book  form  In  order  chat  all  those  of  the  true  blood  might 
have  an  opportunity  to  become  faiiiliar  trith  the  ccciderful 
lessona  they  tsaeh. 

The  official  endorsement  given  the  Lectures  at 
the  Annual  Convention  of  the  Order  at  Baltimore,  after  the 
Committee  on  Irish  Elstory  had  unqualifiedly  endorsed  them,  la 
In  itself  the  best  tribute  they  oonld  receive. 

I  hope  that  every  Hibernian  sister  in  the  Dnited 
States  and  Canada  will  purchase  a  copy  of  the  book  when  It  la 
placed  on  the  market,  and  that  you  5?111  be  forced  to  print 
many  editions  of  eo  brilliant  a  work, 

I  wish  yoa  sacoess  in  the  enterprlaa  you  have 
80  nobly  displayed. 

Touxa  in  the  oausa  - 


national  President 


Thomas  A.  McAvoy 


Thomas  A.  McAvoy  was  born  in  Worcester,  Mass., 
son  of  .James  McAvoy  and  Jane  (Connolly)  McAvoy. 
He  was  educated  in  the  pnblic  schools  of  his  native 
city,  graduating  from  the  Worcester  Classical  High 
School.  After  graduation  he  was  employed  as  a  book- 
keeper. Thereafter  he  entered  Yale  University  and 
was  graduated  from  the  College  in  1902.  While  pur- 
suing his  law  studies  he  was  admitted  to  the  Massachu- 
setts Bar  in  August,  1904.  After  graduation  from 
Harvard  Law  School  in  1905  he  opened  his  office  in 
AVorcester,  where  he  has  since  practiced. 

Mr.  McAvoy  has  been  a  member  of  Division  34,  A. 
0.  H.,  of  Worcester,  for  several  years.  He  served  as 
chairman  of  the  United  A.  0.  H.  Societies  of  Worces- 
ter in  1909.  In  1913,  Mr.  McAvoy  was  appointed  Chair- 
man of  the  Massachusetts  Committee  of  the  A.  0.  H. 
on  Irish  History.  He  arranged  for  the  course  of  six- 
teen lectures  on  Irish  History  given  in  A.  0.  H.  Hall, 
Worcester.  The  first  took  place  on  September  14, 1913, 
and  the  closing  lecture  was  given  April  12,  1914. 


J^_.^^  "^^a^^^ 


John  J.  Rogers 


John  J.  Kogers  was  born  in  Ballyfarnon,  County 
Eoscommon,  Ireland,  March  22,  1869,  and  was  educat- 
ed in  the  schools  of  his  native  town.  At  the  age  of  sev- 
enteen he  emigrated  to  the  United  States.  He  obtained 
employment  at  the  Crompton  Loom  Works,  Worcester, 
Mass.,  and  mastered  the  machinist  trade,  at  which  he 
worked  for  several  years.  In  1903  he  became  proprie- 
tor of  the  Waldo  House,  Worcester,  and  has  remained 
in  the  hotel  business.  Mr.  Rogers  was  married  July 
12,  1904,  to  Kathryn  Theresa  Morrilly,  daughter  of 
Thomas  and  Kathryn  (Mulkeen)  Morrilly  of  Fitehburg, 
Mass. 

Mr.  Rogers  has  been  a  member  of  the  A.  O.  H.  for 
more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century,  having  held  member- 
ship in  Division  3  of  Worcester  since  1888.  Has  been 
Captain  of  Co.  A,  Hibernian  Rifles  of  Worcester,  for 
many  years,  and  for  six  years  was  president  of  the 
Worcester  County  A.  0.  H.  August  29,  1906,  he  was 
elected  president  of  the  Massachusetts  A.  0.  H.,  and 
has  been  Adjutant  General  of  the  military  branch  of 
the  A.  0.  H.  for  several  vears. 


John  T.  Flanagan 


John  T.  Flanagan  is  a  native  of  Worcester,  Mass. 
He  was  born  May  25,  1869,  son  of  Edward  Flanagan 
and  Hannah  M.  (Mahoney)  Flanagan.  Both  parents 
are  natives  of  Ireland.  Mr.  Flanagan  was  educated  in 
the  grammar  schools  and  the  Worcester  Classical  High 
School.  For  seventeen  years  he  was  connected  with 
the  T.  H.  Buckley  Company.  In  1909  he  entered  the 
nndertaking  business. 

Mr.  Flanagan  has  been  a  member  of  the  Worcester 
Democratic  City  Committee  and  served  as  Representa- 
tive in  the  Massachusetts  Legislature  in  1911,  1912, 
1913  and  1914,  from  the  16th  AVorcester  District. 

Mr.  Flanagan  became  a  member  of  Division  3,  A. 
0.  H.,  of  Worcester  in  1897.  He  was  president  in  1911 
and  1912.  Was  treasurer  of  the  United  Divisions,  A. 
0.  H.  of  Worcester  in  1910  and  1911,  and  was  chosen 
president  of  the  Worcester  County  A.  0.  H.  in  1912. 
On  Julj^  30,  1902,  Mr.  Flanagan  was  married  to  Eliza- 
beth Frances  Tansey,  daughter  of  Michael  and  Julia 
(Hanahan)  Tansey. 


^m^  --  •« 


'^ru^^ 


*^:z<^ 


Rev.  Edward  J.   Fitzgerald 


Rev.  Edward  J.  Fitzgerald,  pastor  of  the  Church 
of  the  Holy  Rosary,  Clinton,  Mass.,  was  born  in  Wor- 
cester, Mass.,  March  4,  1868,  son  of  Michael  R.  and 
Anastatia  (Cohen)  Fitzgerald.  He  attended  the  gram- 
mar schools  and  completed  his  studies  at  the  Worcester 
Classical  High  School  in  1885.  He  graduated  from 
Holy  Cross  College  in  1888.  His  theological  studies 
Vv'ere  made  at  Brighton  Seminary.  He  took  a  post- 
graduate course  at  the  Catholic  University,  Washing- 
ton, 1892-1894. 

In  1892,  Father  Fitzgerald  was  ordained  priest  in 
St.  Michael's  Cathedral,  Springfield,  Mass.,  by  Right 
Reverend  Thomas  D.  Beaven,  Bishop  of  Springfield. 
This  was  the  first  class  Bishop  Beaven  ordained  after 
liis  consecration  as  head  of  the  Springfield  Diocese. 
Father  Fitzgerald  was  stationed  for  seven  years  at 
the  Church  of  the  Holy  Name,  Chicopee,  Mass.,  and  ten 
j^ears  at  St.  John's  Church,  Clinton,  Mass.,  as  assistant 
priest,  and  was  appointed  the  first  pastor  of  the  Church 
of  the  Holy  Rosary,  Clinton,  Oct.,  1910. 

For  sixteen  years,  Father  Fitzgerald  has  been 
chaplain  of  Division  8,  A.  0.  H.,  of  Clinton.  He  has 
been  spiritual  advisor  of  the  Worcester  County  A.  0. 
H.,  and  in  1912  was  appointed  chaplain  o^  iho  Massa- 
chusetts A.  0.  H. 


<i^^^>^r^-tf^ 


J^agan  JrrlanJi 

B.  C.  TO  532-3  A.  D. 

BY 

REV.  EDWARD  J.  FITZGERALD 


No  nation  lias  suffered  so  much  from  the  ''conspiracv 
against  truth,"  which  is  known  as  modern  history  a 5  the  Irish 
nation.  For  centuries  every  writer  has  taken  his  shy  at  Ireland, 
reading  into  her  history  his  own  prejudices,  presuming  that  be- 
cause of  adverse  political  conditions  and  loyalty  to  a  proscribed 
religion  the  Irish  nation  of  today  and  yesterday  has  been  the 
supply  for  the  "huers  of  wood  and  the  drawers  of  water" — that 
this  nation  and  great  ethnic  family  that  it  represents.,  !he  Celtic, 
has  in  it  no  greatness  and  has  always  occupied  the  inferior  po- 
sition it  today  is  just  emerging  from. 

Learned  college  professors,  in  learned  books,  overladen 
with  pseudo  learning,  will  tell  you  that  the  Celt  has  not  the  pow- 
er to  build  politically  an  enduring  national  life,  that  lie  can  but 
serve  others,  he  cannot,  because  of  a  certain  lack  in  his  national 
character,  be  a  leader.  Yet  history  tells  us  in  the  golden  period 
of  Ireland's  life  that  she  was  a  leader,  and  that  for  centuries 
she  preserved  and  disseminated  the  learning  that  she  rescued 
from  the  cataclysm  of  the  tottering  Eoman  domination.  School 
histories  will  dilate  upon  the  great  work  of  civilization  that 
England  and  Scotland  have  done,  but  Ireland,  if  mentioned  at 
all,  is  spoken  of  only  as  a  place  for  exploitation  by  Cromwell, 
who  so  kindly  brought  to  Ireland  the  blessings  and  benefits  of 
civilization,  or  a  field  in  which  the  robber  Saxon  king  might 
stop  the  clamor  of  his  hungry  camp  followers  by  awarding  them 
lands  he  never  owned  or  conquered. 

But  our  task  tonight  is  to  speak  of  the  ancient  j.agan  Ire- 
land, so  long  neglected,  and  to  try  and  reconstruct  ber  ancient 
pagan  life  so  that  we  may  see  from  what  modern  Ireland  sprung 


18  PAGAN   IRELAND 

and  find  in  her  ancient  pagan  life  an  explanation  of  niach  of  her 
Christian  and  modern  development,  and  also  lack  of  develop- 
ment. 

We  have  plenty  of  data  for  onr  inquiry  which  of  late  years 
have  been  made  the  subject  of  close  scrutiny.  The  i?ianuscript 
remains  of  Ireland,  more  numerous  than  of  any  other  European 
country,  have  given  us  not  only  a  true  picture  of  ancient  Ireland 
but  also  of  the  great  Celtic  family  of  which  Ireland  is  the  most 
distinguished  modern  development.  To  be  sure  these  manu- 
scripts are  not  earlier  than  the  eighth  century  of  onr  era,  l)at 
they  record  events  and  customs  of  pre-Christian  times,  and  al- 
though, like  documents  of  their  kind,  they  need  the  discriminat- 
ing critic  who  can  separate  the  truth  from  the  chaff  of  mythical 
fancy,  yet  when  this  work  has  been  done  we  have  historical  doc- 
uments that  merit  and  have  received  the  attention  and  credence 
of  the  scholar  world.  This  work  has  been  done  and  is  being 
clone  today  not  only  by  that  race  to  whom  it  is  a  labor  of  love, 
but  by  the  German  and  French  scholars  as  well. 

Eugene  0 'Curry,  in  those  epoch-making  lectures  which  he 
delivered  before  the  student  body  of  the  short-lived  Irish  uni- 
versity, presided  over  by  the  great  English  churchman,  has 
given  us  ample  historical  data  upon  which  to  reconstruct  the 
ancient  Irish  life,  and  the  work  ho  so  brilliantly  began  has  been 
carried  on  till  today  and  the  A.  0.  H.  chair  of  Celtic  in  the 
Catholic  University  of  AVashington  will  soon  contribute  to  this 
great  work  by  the  publication  of  a  critical  edition  of  the  Tain- 
Bo-Cuailnge,  the  great  Irish  Illiad. 

It  will  be  upon  such  sources,  properly  weighed  and  critic- 
ally appreciated,  as  they  are  the  only  original  and  autiientic 
so-.irces,  that  we  will  base  our  remarks  tonight. 

To  be  sure,  to  try  and  tell  the  story  of  a  nation  within  the 
compass  of  a  single  hour's  talk,  would  be  futile.  Asl  that  can 
be  hoped  is  to  give  a  sketch,  the  merest  outline  of  the  home, 
political,  religious  and  intellectual  life  of  a  people.  Ireland 
has  had  many  names  in  her  long  history,  some  fanciful  and  po- 
etic, others  merely  geographical.  Hibernia,  Inisfail,  the  Isle  of 
Destiny,  Scotia  and  later  Scotia  Major,  to  distinguish  it  from 
Scotland,  Banba  and  Erin  are  the  best  known  .  The  name  Sco- 
tia comes  from  the  name  of  the  Eg^qitian  wife  of  one  of  the 
early  Irish  chieftans,  Scota,  and  the  name  Miletians  from  a 
chief  of  the  name  ]\Iiledth.  and  from  Graidel,  another  famous 
chief,  the  Irish  people  receive  the  appelation  Gails.  The  An- 
nals of  the  four  masters  gives  this  origin  for  the  Irish  nation. 

The  first  colony  of  Ireland  was  planted  by  the  Parthalon- 
ians,  who,  2500  years  before  Christ,  came  from  Greece.    They 


REV.   EDWARD  J.   FITZGERALD  19 

Tvere  followed  by  the  Nemedians,  who  took  possessioti  after  the 
island  was  depopulated  by  a  terrible  plague  and  had  remained 
a  solitude  for  thirty  years.  The  Nemedians  were  harassed  by 
the  Formorians,  a  band  of  sea  robbers  and  pirates  from  Africa, 
who  eventually  obtained  the  upper  hand. 

The  Firbolgs  were  the  third  colony,  coming  to  Ireland  from 
Northern  Greece  and  were  a  recolonization,  for  thes'  were  the 
descendants  of  Simon  Brec,  a  Nemedian  chief,  who  had  fled 
from  Ireland  to  escape  the  cruelty  of  the  Formorian  invasion. 
Enslaved  in  Greece  they  were  obliged  to  bring  soil  from  the  rich 
lowlands  to  enrich  the  rocky  highlands  of  their  adopted  coun- 
try in  leather  bags,  hence  their  name  Fribolgs  or  bag  men.  Tir- 
ing of  their  servitude,  they  fled  from  Greece  under  the  five  sons 
of  Dela  and  conquered  Ireland  and  divided  it  into  fi\  e  provinc- 
es, one  for  each  brother,  a  division  that  has  perseveicd  till  to- 
day. They  held  sway  for  less  than  half  a  century,  to  be  succeed- 
ed by  the  De  Dannans,  who  likewise  came  from  Greece  as  a  re- 
colonization,  being  descended  from  the  Nemedian  Cliief  Ibach, 
who,  fleeing  from  the  Formonian  pirates,  had  settled  about 
Athens.  They  returned  to  Ireland  by  way  of  Scandinavia  and 
Scotland  and  by  magic  in  which  they  were  adepts,  gained  en- 
trance to  the  country  and  eventually  conquered  it. 

The  Miletians  followed.  Coming  from  Scythia  their  first 
migration  was  to  Eg^^^t.  Then  after  many  viccissHudes  they 
came  to  Spain,  where  they  dwelt  many  years,  and  finally  under 
the  eight  sons  of  Miled  they  came  to  Ireland  and  eventually 
conquered  the  De  Dannans,  and  from  thenceforth  Miletian  king? 
ruled  Ireland  till  Eoderick  O'Connor. 

These  accounts  are  of  course  largely  mythical  and  fabulous, 
except  the  Firbolgs,  who  existed  and  were  probably  kindred  to 
the  warlike  Belgae  of  Gaul,  whom  Caesar  eucountere  I  in  battle, 
and  the  ]\Iiletians,  who  are  certainly  historical;  the  rest  of  the 
peoples  and  their  story  belong  to  the  realms  of  fancy  The  date 
of  their  coming  to  Ireland  is  uncertain.  They  wero  Celts  and 
probably  ca4ne  from  Gaul  to  Britain  and  from  Britain  to  Ire- 
land rather  than  directly  from  Spain,  says  D  'Alton.  I  give  this 
account  of  the  old  analist  because  while  much  of  it  is  fabulous 
it  has  formed  the  basis  of  so  many  of  the  tales  and  poems  of 
Ireland  that  at  least  the  nomenclature  and  origki  is  of  some  in- 
terest. 

Though  the  Irish  were  pagans  they  were  spared  Hie  degra- 
dation that  overtook  cultured  and  refined  Greece.  The  pagan 
Irish  had  not  the  debasing  worship  of  impure  love.  The  Irish 
worshipped  the  celestial  bodies  with  minor  gods,  u:ount?ains, 
trees,  etc.    They  offered  sacrifice  to  their  gods,  but  the  charge 


20  PAGAN  IRELAND 

that  they  offered  human  sacrifice  has  never  been  established. 
Their  temples  were  the  oak  groves  oi  which  Ireland  boasted 
in  the  pagan  davs.  They  had  a  belief  in  a  future  life  and  in  the 
immortality  of  the  soul,  and  were  not  degraded  by  tijeir  relig- 
ion to  an  extent  that  they  could  not  appreciate  the  licauties  of 
a  higher  code  of  belief  and  practice  when  it  was  exposed  to 
them.  The  wholesome  sweet  worship  of  nature  gave  them  a 
love  for  the  world  in  which  they  lived  and  a  great  joy  in  the 
''out  of  doors"  which  to  them  was  their  temple  and  their  God. 
The  progress  upward  from  nature  to  nature's  God  then  was  no»; 
difficult  when  the  message  of  tidings  of  great  joy  was  delivered 
to  them  by  the  saintly  Patrick. 

"Whether  the  pagan  Irish  were  acquainted  with  the  art  of 
writing  is  a  question  that  is  now  difficult  or  impossible  to  deter- 
mine," says  Dr.  Joyce,  speaking  of  the  manners,  customs  and 
ancient  institutions  of  the  Irish.  The  coming  of  St.  Patrick 
found  many  circumstances  that  indicated  literary  activity.  All 
authorities  concur  that  there  were  in  the  country  literary  and 
professional  men,  druids,  poets  and  antiquarians.  It  is  certain 
that  immediately  after  the  establishment  of  Christianity  in  the 
fifth  century  the  Irish  committed  to  writing  in  their  native  lan- 
guage not  only  the  laws,  bardic  or  historical,  and  poems,  etc., 
of  their  own  times,  but  those  which  had  been  preserved  from 
times  preceding  whether  traditionally  or  otherwise,  says  Petrie. 
This  general  widespread  use  of  writing  would  be  hard  to  ac- 
count for  were  there  not  a  previous  knowledge  of  letters. 

D  'Alton  indeed  says  without  restriction  that  beside  the  Og- 
ham writings  there  was  had  a  knowledge  of  letters.  But  the 
best  opinion  seems  to  be  that  precluding  from  the  Ogham  script 
the  pagan  Irish  did  not  have  writing.  The  Ogham  writing  was 
invented  by  the  Irish  themselves  and  founded  with  considerable 
skill  upon  the  Latin  and  antedated  any  of  the  vellums  or  manu- 
script. It  was  used  particularly  for  inscriptions  on  monuments 
and  gravestones.  It  answered  well  for  lapidary  inscriptions, 
but  was  too  cumbersome  for  the  facile  creation  of  a  literature 
though  the  professional  jDoets  may  have  carried  with  them  on 
the  tablet-staves,  as  the  manuscripts  call  them,  the  catch  words 
of  many  j^oems,  sagas  and  genealogies.  More  than  200  Ogham 
inscriptions  exist  today.  Ogham  was  criptic  also;  intended  only 
for  the  initiated,  and  to  make  it  more  unintelligible  to  the  out- 
siders, inversion  of  syllables,  introduction  of  extra  letters,  etc., 
was  practiced.  However,  with  the  introduction  of  Christianity 
Roman  letters  were  introduced  and  with  the  whole  power  and 
authority  of  the  Church  behind  it,  soon  became  universal  in  its 
use. 


REV.  EDWARD  J.   FITZGERALD  21 

Tlie  law  system  of  the  Irish  was  complete  and  detailed  at 
a  very  early  age.  Committed  to  writing  as  it  was  in  the  time 
of  Patrick  it  was  revised  under  his  auspices  and  purged  of  the 
pagan  features  and  Christianized.  This  work  was  done  by  three 
kings,  three  Bishops,  of  whom  Patrick  was  one,  and  three  poets 
and  antiquarians.  The  original  Brehon  law  was  the  law  of  na- 
ture and  was  set  forth  probably  in  verse.  The  Brehon  or  ex- 
pounder of  the  law  was  obliged  to  give  long  years  of  prepara- 
tion for  his  task,  and  the  pleading  of  a  case  was  an  intricate 
and  difficult  matter;  moreover  the  Brehon  was  liable  for  dam- 
ages for  any  unjust  decision  he  might  make.  At  first  the  legal 
profession  was  open  to  all  who  would  give  the  required  time  to 
its  study  and  acquirement,  but  in  later  times  the  profession 
became  hereditary  but  never  ceased  to  demand  long  and  care- 
ful preparation  on  the  part  of  the  aspirant  to  judicial  honors. 
The  Brehons  were  a  very  influential  class  of  men  attached  to 
the  chief's  retinue  and  receiving  from  him  land  which  remain- 
ed in  their  family  for  generations.  Some  were  not  attached  to 
any  house  and  lived  from  their  fees,  and  it  is  related  that  many 
Brehons  waxed  rich  from  their  fees  alone. 

Many  quaint  and  interesting  stories  are  told  on  the  old 
Brehon  lawyers  who  administered  the  law  not  according  to 
justice.  One  was  said  to  show  mottled  spots  on  his  cheeks,  and 
another  of  the  first  century  used  to  wear  a  metal  ring  about  his 
neck,  and  when  he  delivered  an  unjust  decision  the  ring  tight- 
ened until  it  all  but  choked  him,  while  when  he  dealt  justly  with 
the  case  it  relaxed  and  allowed  him  full  freedom  to  breath  and 
talk. 

The  Brehon  law  was  crude,  of  course,  but  was  far  above 
the  law  of  retaliation  which  prevailed  elsewhere,  and  whose 
dictum  was  ' '  an  eye  for  an  eye. ' '  As  there  was  no  central  gov- 
ernment strong  enough  to  enforce  the  law  there  was  no  offence 
against  the  State  or  crime  as  we  know  it  today,  but  all  offence 
was  against  the  individual,  torts,  and  had  to  be  prosecuted  by 
the  individual  or  his  friends,  else  the  oft'ender  got  away  scot- 
free. 

The  houses  of  the  ancient  Irish  were  of  wood,  strong  posts 
being  set  in  the  ground  and  the  wall  formed  of  interlaced  wat- 
tles, some  times  of  stout  planks.  The  wickerwork  sides  were  of- 
ten plastered  and  the  plaster  was  whitened  and  some  times 
tinted.  The  roofs  were  conical  supported  by  a  central  pillar 
and  thatched.  The  Irish  had  no  knowledge  of  cement,  and  all 
their  stone  work  was  laid  dry.  They  also,  like  the  Greeks,  did 
not  know  the  principle  of  the  arch,  iDut  in  spite  of  these  handi- 
caps they  built  many  huge  works  in  stone,  some  of  which  re- 


22  PAGAN  IRELAND 

main  today  to  testify  to  their  genius  as  builders.  The  houses 
were  grouped  together  and  were  surrounded  usually  for  pur- 
poses of  defense  with  a  clay  wall  thrown  up  from  a  deep  circu- 
lar trench  which  was  filled  with  water  as  an  additional  protec- 
tion when  possible.  The  house  consisted  of  one  large  room  us- 
ually, for  the  men  at  least,  and  around  the  sides  of  the  room 
were  sleeping  couches.  This  room  was  used  for  sleeping,  eat- 
ing, and  lounging.  Seats  were  provided  and  the  nicest  and  most 
exact  etiquette  was  observed  in  seating  the  inmates,  the  rights 
of  precedence  being  very  rigidly  enforced.  Separate  rooms 
for  the  women  were  had  frequently  in  the  most  sheltered  and 
sunny  part  of  the  abode  and  sometimes  separate  buildings  were 
erected  for  the  women  alone.  The  remains  of  the  old  circum- 
vallations  exist  today,  but  the  wooden  houses  have  of  course 
decayed.  Often  times,  too,  carefully  constructed  subterranean 
vaults  lined  with  stone  have  been  unearthed  in  these  Duns, 
which  were  probably  storehouses  used  while  the  place  was  be- 
sieged. 

The  army  was  a  prominent  activity  with  the  early  Irish. 
The  troops  were  of  two  sorts — heavy  armed  Gallowglasses  and 
light  armed  Kerns — a  division  found  also  among  the  Greeks, 
as  every  schoolboy  reader  of  Xenephon  knows.  The  former 
were  mighty  men  encased  in  armor  sometimes,  though  not  al- 
ways, for  the  old  chroniclers  tell  us  the  Irish  used  to  deem  it 
more  honorable  to  fight  in  a  saffron  colored  jerkin  than  encased 
in  bronze.  Their  special  weapon  was  the  battle  axe,  which  they 
wielded  with  one  hand,  guiding  the  stroke  with  the  finger  ex- 
tended along  the  handle,  and  in  later  times  no  steel  armor  could 
resist  the  stroke  of  the  Gallowglasses'  axe.  A  thigh  fully  en- 
cased in  steel  armor  has  been  sheered  oif  by  a  single  blow  of 
these  dread  weapons.  The  Kerns  had  their  short  swords 
and  javelins.  That  the  early  Irish  had  bows  and  arrows 
and  could  use  them  with  skill  we  know,  for  we  have  in  our  mu- 
seums flint  arrow-heads  and  bronze  arrow-heads,  but  very  little 
mention,  if  any,  is  made  of  them  in  the  early  manuscripts. 

The  early  Irish  had  no  cavalry  division  of  their  army, 
though  the  chiefs  were  mounted  and  were  very  discriminating 
in  horseflesh.  The  chariot,  however,  was  well  known  in  early 
Irish  warfare,  sometimes  scythe-bearing,  sometimes  not.  The 
chief  was  attended  by  his  charioteer  when  he  went  to  battle  and 
the  general  use  of  the  chariot  in  warfare  as  well  as  in  peaceful 
pursuits  acquaints  us  with  the  fact  that  all  over  Ireland  there 
were  good  roads,  of  course  for  the  times.  The  Irish  soldier  in 
pagan  times,  as  today,  was  of  the  highest  valor  and  address. 
The  political  arrangement  of  the  country,  however,  robbed  him 


REV.  EDWARD  J.   FITZGERALD  23 

of  much  of  the  fruits  of  his  valor.  The  clan  and  tribe  system 
of  the  Celt  kept  the  country  in  a  constant  turmoil  and  the  inter- 
necine strife  that  was  continued  for  centuries  robbed  Irish  valor 
of  its  dearest  right,  a  fatherland  safe  from  invasion,  and  al- 
though oceans  of  the  best  and  bravest  blood  was  poured  out  it 
was  for  the  aggrandizement  of  some  ambitious,  restless  prince- 
ling, rather  than  the  permanent  advancement  of  the  nation. 
Hostile  critics,  however,  are  at  one  in  bearing  testimony  to  the 
valor  and  address  of  the  Irish  soldiers  and  had  Erin  boasted  a 
Philip  of  Macedon,  an  Alexander  the  Great,  or  a  Caesar,  as  an 
Ard-ri  and  organizer,  the  exploits  of  Brennus  or  Breunan  the 
Celt,  who  captured  and  sacked  Kome  with  his  unmatched  sold 
iery,  we  might  have  had  permanent  results.  The  old  chroniclers 
give  us  a  description  of  an  Irish  king  at  a  feis  of  Tara,  and  when 
we  recall  that  there  were  250  such  with  their  retinue  or  tails,  we 
may  easily  conclude  that  the  sight  of  the  Irish  army  assembled 
in  union  and  concord  was  a  sight  for  gods  and  men. 

The  description  referred  to  is  in  an  old  manuscript,  quoted 
in  the  Book  of  Bally wote,  0 'Curry  gives  us  a  Bardic  picture  of 
an  Ard-ri  of  Ireland,  Cormac-mac-art,  and  although  the  bard's 
fancy  has  colored  the  picture  some,  still  it  remains  substantial- 
ly true.  The  writer  tells  us  that  Cormac's  hair  was  slightly 
curled  and  of  golden  color;  he  carried  a  scarlet  shield  with  en- 
graved devices  and  golden  hooks  and  clasps  of  silver;  a  wide 
folding  purple  cloak  covered  him,  with  a  gem  set  gold  brooch 
over  his  breast,  a  gold  torque  was  around  his  neck,  a  white  col- 
lared shirt  embroidered  with  gold  upon  him;  a  girdle  with  gold- 
en buckles  studded  with  precious  stones  encircled  him;  two 
spears  with  golden  sockets,  and  many  red  bronze  rivets  were  in 
his  hands,  while  he  stood  in  the  full  glow  of  beauty,  without  de- 
fect or  blemish,  you  would  think  it  was  a  shower  of  pearls  that 
were  set  in  his  mouth;  his  lips  were  rubies;  his  symmetrical 
body  was  as  white  as  snow,  his  cheeks  were  like  the  mountain 
ash-berry;  his  eyes  were  like  the  sloe;  his  brows  and  eye  lashes 
were  like  the  sheen  of  a  blue-black  lance. 

Another  manuscript,  Tam-Bo-Cooley,  describes  a  King 
Conair  Mor,  as  a  "tall  illustrious  chief  with  cheeks  dazzling 
white  with  a  tinge  like  that  of  dawn  upon  stainless  snow, 
sparkling  black  pupils  in  blue  eyes  glancing  and  curling  yellow 
hair."  It  is  historically  certain  that  any  bodily  blemish  unfit- 
ted a  man  for  chief  place  among  the  Irish,  and  any  one  who  has 
read  the  requirements  of  head,  foot  and  body  demanded  for 
entrance  to  the  Feena  or  national  militia  founded  by  Finn  Mc- 
Cool,  the  strong  man  of  Cormac-mac-art,  need  fear  no  contradic- 
tion when  he  says  that  on  that  Easter  morning,  433,  8t.  Patrick 


24  PAGAN  IRELAND 

stood  ill  the  presence  of  as  fine  a  body  of  men,  glowing  with 
every  physical  manly  charm,  as  ever  the,  sun  looked  upon. 

The  land  question  was  always  a  crux  for  Ireland,  and  even 
hi  pagan  times  the  system  of  land  tenure  kept  Ireland  back 
from  the  development  she  should  have  reached.  The  land  was 
held  in  commoUj  for  the  most  part,  by  the  tribe,  although  cer- 
tain private  grants  were  made  to  individuals  and  the  king  him- 
self had  his  private  estates.  Then  there  took  place  at  uncertain 
intervals  a  redistribution  of  all  the  tribal  lands  which  robbed 
the  individual  of  all  ambition  and  initiative  and  checked  the 
progress  of  the  nation  in  consequence.  This  communistic  ex- 
l)erience  of  the  ancient  Irish,  together  with  their  tribal  arrange- 
ment and  the  excessive  and  exaggerated  loyalty  to  house  and 
tribe,  kept  Ireland  from  being  the  strong  power  she  might  have 
become  had  she  been  blessed  with  a  strong  central  government, 
and  an  Ard-ri  in  fact  as  in  name,  for  while  theoretically  the 
subordinate  kings  paid  deference  and  tribute  to  the  high  king, 
yet  in  practice  they  paid  such  deference  only  when  the  high 
king  was  strong  enough  to  ''come  and  take  it." 

The  art  of  Ireland  in  pagan  times  was  crude  and  meagre. 
k5ome  skill  in  building,  a  rather  high  development  in  metal 
work,  gold,  silver  and  enamel,  and  a  very  remarkable  skill  in 
music  are  her  chief  claims  to  an  artistic  reputation.  Her  mar- 
velous skill  in  manuscript  illumination  was  of  Christian  origin 
and  of  painting  and  sculpture  we  have  no  records.  Her  build- 
ings we  have  already  described,  noted  for  their  solidity  perhaps 
rather  than  for  any  special  beauty.  In  metal  work,  however, 
even  in  pagan  times,  the  Irish  excelled,  and  splendid  carved 
spear  heads,  sword  hilts  and  blades,  brooches,  etc.,  testify  to 
this.  The  later  development  in  crosses,  chalices,  etc.,  which 
Isave  aroused  the  admiration  of  the  art  loving  world,  do  not  be- 
long to  our  period,  but  found  their  germ  no  doubt  in  pagan 
times  and  are  but  the  growth  and  development  of  this  native 
ability.  In  music,  however,  the  Irish  native,  pagan  and  Chris- 
tian has  a  special  endowment  from  God.  It  is  somewhat  diffi- 
cult to  distinguish  between  poetry  and  music  in  the  old  ac- 
counts, as  the  words  are  used  interchangeably  and  the  musician 
was  most  always  the  poet  as  well.  The  Irish  poetry  was  the 
most  melodious  of  all  poetry.  The  meter  and  rhythm  was  most 
intricate,  resembling  the  double  acrostic.  It  was  musical  to  a 
degree,  but  was  so  artificial  in  form  that  the  sense  was  sacri- 
ficed to  mere  sound  too  often,  and  the  poet  was  hampered  and 
prevented  from  great  flights  of  imagination. 

•   Of  course  there  were  no  long  sustained  musical  pieces  like 
the  modern  opera,  oratorio  or  sonata.     The  tunes  were  short 


REV.   EDWARD  J.   FITZGERALD  25 

and  while  tliey  boasted  a  harmony  it  was  of  a  simple  sort  but 
very  exquisite  by  reason  of  the  perfect  blending  of  sound.  The 
favorite  instrument  was  the  harp,  and  from  the  very  earliest 
dawn  of  historical  record  the  harp  is  closely  allied  with  the 
Irish  national  life.  The  harp  was  of  30  strings,  played  upon 
with  the  fingers  or  finger  nails,  and  was  of  various  sizes  from 
the  small  hand  harp  to  the  bardic  harp  of  six  feet  in  height. 
The  bagpipes  were  also  well  known  in  early  times,  but  the  pipes 
were  rather  the  instrument  of  the  poorer  people,  while  the  harp 
was  the  instrument  of  the  nobility,  and  it  was  part  of  the  ac- 
complishment .of  every  noble  gentleman  to  be  able  to  sing  a 
sonnet  to  his  lady's  eyebrow  to  the  accompaniment  of  the  harp. 

While  there  was  in  the  old  Irish  music  a  tendency  to  sad- 
ness, yet  the  great  majority  of  Irish  music  and  song  was  glad- 
some. It  fell  into  three  classes;  the  musical  compositions  to 
arouse  merriment,  dance  music,  etc.,  those  to  arouse  sadness, 
the  keens  and  death  tunes,  and  the  slumber  songs  and  lulla- 
bies. The  Irish  had  also  occupational  tunes  which  accompanied 
them  at  their  work.  The  ploughman  had  his  quaint,  soothing 
whistle  which  gave  peace  and  content  to  the  plough  horse,  the 
milkmaid  had  her  sweet,  melancholy  milking  song,  under  whose 
^•entling  influence  the  cows  submitted  all  the  more  willingly 
in  the  milking  barns.  The  blacksmith  had  his  song,  which  echo- 
ed and  re-echoed  with  the  clang  of  the  hammer  and  the  ster^ 
torous  pufifing  of  the  bellows,  etc.  This  music  was  never  writ- 
ten, of  course,  and  much  of  it  perished,  but  much  of  it  remains, 
being  set  down  in  later  days  and  put  to  new^  words,  and  many 
a  popular  song  today  masquerading  in  modern  dress  is  but  an 
old  Irish  motif  developed  according  to  the  modern  musical 
science  of  harmony. 

Public  assemblages  of  the  people  for  purposes  of  trade  and 
pleasure  and  culture  was  a  custom  of  the  early  Irish.  These 
assemblages  or  fairs,  called  Aenach,  were  annual  or  triennial, 
as  the  case  might  be,  and  had  their  origin  in  the  funeral  games 
that  were  common  in  ancient  Ireland,  as  also  they  were  cus- 
tomary in  Greece.  At  first  they  were  held  in  ancient  cemeteries 
in  which  were  interred  the  bones  or  ashes  of  some  noted  king, 
<3hief  or  hero  of  history  or  legend.  In  pagan  times  the  Druids 
conducted  some  sort  of  religious  services,  kindling  the  sacred 
fire  and  burning  the  sacrifices.  Important  affairs  of  various 
kinds,  national  or  local,  were  transacted  at  these  meetings. 
Laws  were  promulgated,  councils  and  courts  were  held  to  con- 
sider various  questions  of  right  and  privilege,  disputes  about 
property,  taxes,  etc.,  were  settled.  Acts  of  tyranny  of  the  pow- 
erful over  the  weak  were  righted,  the  repair  of  the  roads,  the 


26  PAGAN  IRELAND 

levying  of  army  enlistment,  etc.,  all  these  and  nnmerons  other 
questions  were  considered  and  settled  by  these  unofficial  ple- 
becita.  Athletic  games  also  formed  a  part  of  the  gatherings  of 
the  people,  horse  racing,  contests  in  music  and  poetry  being 
common.  It  was  a  great  place  to  settle  marriage  also,  bachelors 
and  maidens  being  kept  apart  till  the  parents  had  bargained  for 
the  marriage  settlement,  the  dot,  and  had  arranged  the  details. 

The  feis  or  convention  at  Tara  triennially  held,  was  of  an- 
other sort.  Originally  it  was  connected  with  funeral  rites  and 
games,  for  there  was  a  famous  cemetery  at  Tara.  Although  it 
was  supposed  to  be  triennial  in  fact  it  was  held  only  once  in 
the  reign  of  the  Ard-ri,  usually  at  his  inauguration  into  office. 
The  feis  was  a  convention  of  the  leading  persons,  as  the  aenacli 
was  a  convention  of  the  common  people.  The  provincial  kings, 
the  minor  kings  and  chiefs,  the  distinguished  representatives 
of  the  learned  professions,  the  ollaves  or  doctors  of  history, 
law  and  poetry  made  up  the  gathering.  For  seven  clays  they 
convened  and  the  formal  matters  of  consideration  were  dis- 
cussed in  the  banquet  hall.  Elaborate  precautions  to  prevent 
quarreling  were  taken.  Anyone  who  struck  another,  wounded 
another,  used  insulting  words  even,  or  stole  anything,  was  lia- 
ble to  death. 

Besides  the  athletic  games  and  contests  in  soldierly  skill 
and  adeptness,  mention  is  made  very  early  of  the  game  of  chess 
in  many  manuscripts,  and  a  chess  board  and  a  finely  carved  set 
of  men  was  a  gift  fit  for  a  king  or  a  popular  poet  who  had  sung 
the  glories  of  a  chief  or  his  house  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  clan. 
The  funeral  rite  which  had  so  much  to  do  with  Irish  life,  being 
the  occasion,  as  we  have  said,  in  the  early  times,  of  the  aenachs 
and  the  consequent  intercourse  and  recreation  that  the  fairs 
were  the  occasion  of,  were  of  varied  sorts.  Three  modes  pre- 
vailed of  disposing  of  the  dead:  inhumation  as  at  present,  the 
body  being  laid  to  rest  recumbent,  burial  of  a  king  or  hero 
standing  upright  or  astride  a  horse  fully  accoutred  and  armed, 
defying  his  enemies  even  in  death,  and  incineration  or  crem.a- 
tion,  the  body  being  reduced  to  ashes  and  the  ashes  placed  in  an 
urn  of  baked  clay.  These  urns  were  placed  in  rude  ,stone  cof- 
fins sometimes,  or  under  huge  burial  chambers  made  by  great 
stone  slabs  superimposed  upon  upright  stones,  the  whole  called 
cromlechs,  which  remain  today  scattered  all  over  Ireland,  and  in 
which  are  found  skeletons  and  burial  urns  containing  burnt 
bones.  Over  the  graves  of  many  heroes  great  heaps  of  stones 
called  cairns  were  reared,  each  friend,  clansman  or  passerby 
furnishing  a  stone  to  the  structure. 

"Let  me  write  a  couutrv's  songs  and  I  care  not  who  writes. 


REV.  EDWARD  J.   FITZGERALD  27 

her  laws,"  is  the  seutmient  of  a  modern  writer.  Some  such 
conviction  seems  to  have  been  deep  rooted  in  the  ancient  Irish, 
for  the  poet's  office  was  held  in  the  highest  veneration  among 
them,  and  the  head  bard  ranked  as  high  if  not  higher  than  the 
head  Brehon,  though  the  two  offices  were  often  combined,  as 
the  most  ancient  form  of  the  Brehon  law  was  versified.  The 
office  of  bard  was  no  sinecure.  Eleven  years  of  severe  study 
was  the  preparation  demanded  for  the  bard.  A  comx~>lete  knowl- 
edge of  poetical  form,  thousands  of  verses  committed  to  mem- 
ory, and  the  ability  to  improvise  on  the  spur  of  the  moment, 
made  the  iJards  ever  welcome  to  the  chief's  board,  where  he 
could  entertain  the  chief's  guests  and  flatter  the  family  pride 
of  his  patron  at  the  saiue  time.  Not  the  greatest  hero  but  the 
best  sung  hero  is  the  one  the  world  crowns.  Fontenoy  outranks 
Cremona  because  a  Davis  took  it  for  the  theme  of  one  of  his 
most  stirring  poems;  Balaklava,  an  insignificant  engagement, 
outranks  the  charge  of  the  Cuirassiers  at  Waterloo  because  a 
poet  laureate  chanted  "Half  a  league,  half  a  league,  half  a 
league  onward."  Who  has  not  heard  of  Paul  Eevere  and  his 
midnight  ride  because  Longfellow  sang  his  deed  of  daring,  but 
who  knows  of  William  Dawes,  who  dared  as  much  and  more, 
because  he  followed  a  more  diflicult  and  dangerous  route,  on 
the  18th  of  April  in  '75  f 

Many  an  old  pagan  chieftan  is  remembered  today  because 
some  old  saga  or  bardic  remains  has  handed  his  name  down  to 
posterity.  The  bards  were  not  unmixed  blessings,  however. 
While  they  could  perpetuate  the  grand  deeds  of  valor  and  cast 
a  glamor  about  them  even  when  somewhat  commonplace,  they 
were  an  irritable,  touchy  lot,  and  could  satirize  as  well  as  praise 
when  the  mood  was  on  them.  They  increased  in  numbers  and 
arrogance  and  became  a  real  incubus  upon  the  land,  demanding 
shelter,  food  and  largess  as  a  right,  not  a  privilege.  Many 
moves  were  made  to  put  an  end  to  the  order,  but  they  were 
never  put  into  execution.  During  the  Anglo-Norman  invasion 
they  were  proscribed  by  the  law,  but  the  people  sheltered  them 
and  they  finally  expired  with  Carolan,  the  last  of  the  bards. 
We  might  consider  some  other  institutions  peculiar  to  the  an- 
cient Irish,  fosterage,  right  of  sanctuary,  etc.,  but  perhaps  we 
have  seen  enough  to  construct  a  picture  fairly  complete  and 
historically  correct. 

The  ancient  Irish,  then,  were  a  pastoral  people  of  splendid 
physique,  living  close  to  nature,  in  which  they  found  an  an- 
swer to  all  the  higher  religious  aspirations  of  their  being,  and 
trained  in  the  hard  school  of  adversity  to  a  strength,  persever- 
ance and  courage  that  adversity  alone  can  give.     Of  an  un- 


Rev.  Bernard  S.  Conaty 


Eev.  Bernard  S.  Conaty,  pastor  of  St.  Joseph's 
Church,  Pittsfield,  Mass.,  was  born  in  Taunton,  Mass., 
October  14,  1855.  His  early  education  was  received  in 
tbe  schools  of  his  native  city.  For  three  years  he  was 
at  Montreal  College  for  his  classics,  then  at  Holy  Cross 
College  for  a  short  period,  but  completed  these  studies 
in  the  College  of  Propaganda,  Borne.  For  reasons  of 
health.  Father  Conaty,  in  May,  1878,  was  obliged  to  go 
from  Eome  to  Aix  en  Provence,  France.  His  theolog- 
ical studies  were  finished  in  the  Grand  Seminar j^  of  that 
place. 

April  11,  1882,  Father  Conaty  was  ordained  priest 
by  Archbishop  Forcade.  He  served  from  November  4 
of  that  year  to  March  3  of  the  next,  as  assistant  priest 
at  the  Church  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  Gardner,  Mass.  He 
was  next  assigned  to  St.  Mary's  Church,  Spencer, 
Mass.,  and  in  1888  was  appointed  rector  of  St.  Mich- 
ael's Cathedral,  Springfield,  Mass.  In  January,  1897, 
he  became  pastor  of  the  Church  of  the  Sacred  Heart, 
Worcester,  Mass.,  remaining  there  until  July,  1913, 
when  he  was  transferred  to  the  Pittsfield  Church. 

For  a  number  of  years  Father  Conaty  was  Director 
of  the  Worcester  Free  Public  Library.  For  more  than 
a  quarter  of  a  century  he  has  been  a  member  of  the 
Springfield  Diocesan  C.  T.  A.  Union  and  was  president 
in  1899,  and  again  in  1907  and  1908. 


3nt0  Jr^lani 


433—597 
BY 


REV.  BERNARD  S.   CONATY 


When  I  was  kindly  asked  some  time  ago  by  the  gentleman 
who  so  graciously  presides  at  this  gathering  if  I  would  consent 
to  prepare  an  evening's  talk  on  some  interesting  period  of  Irish 
history,  I  must  confess  that  my  first  strong  natural  impulse  was 
to  decline. 

I  feel  indeed  how  poorly  equipped  I  am  to  speak  intelli- 
gently and  interestingly  on  a  subject  so  seemingly  foreign  to  my 
every  day  work.  I  could  not,  however,  refuse  whatever  en- 
couragement my  feeble  voice  and  mj  still  more  inexperienced 
pen  may  lend  to  so  high  and  noble  an  educational  plan  as  that 
so  wisely  outlined  by  those  who  have  inaugurated  this  series  of 
popular  lectures. 

I  console  myself  with  the  thought  that  in  this  forum  of  the 
people  even  an  itinerant  "soggarth"  like  my  humble  self  may 
be  vouchsafed  a  hearing.  "The  introduction  of  Christianity 
into  Ireland  and  its  marvelous  development  under  St.  Patrick" 
is  the  subject  assigned  to  me.  It  is  one  that  might  easily  af- 
fright a  greater  than  I,  so  sublime  is  its  character  and  so  far- 
reaching  its  scope. 

I  may  be  wrong,  but  I  have  a  feeling  that  to  paint  a  perfect 
morning  scene  requires  more  of  the  exquisite  genius-like  touch 
of  the  master  artist  than  any  other  of  Nature's  myriad  won- 
ders. 

To  reproduce  upon  the  canvas  the  dazzling  splendor  of  that 
perfect  King  of  day  as  slowly,  yet  majestically,  he  appears 
above  his  mountain  or  ocean  couch,  scattering,  as  he  ascends 


30         THE    INTRODUCTION    OF    CHRISTIANITY    INTO    IRELAND 

along  the  heavenly  highway  with  a  wantonly  lavish  hand,  liis 
nncoiintable  wealth  of  warmth  and  light  bedecking  earth  and 
sky  with  the  most  gorgeous  robe  of  beauty,  making  instinct  with 
life  and  joy  the  whole  creation,  has  time  and  again  baffled  the 
best  directed  efforts  of  many  a  patron  of  palette  and  brush. 

But  I  ask  you  what  think  you  of  man 's  efforts  to  faithfully 
picture  not  the  glories  of  a  dawning  day,  in  which  the  physical 
world  is  alone  portrayed,  arrayed  in  the  vari-colored  tints  of 
the  material  sun  of  earth,  but  that  all  divinely  beauteous  morn 
when  over  the  restless  crest  of  ocean  and  above  the  lofty  moun- 
tains there  rose  upon  that  Western  Isle  of  Erin  the  eternal  Sun 
of  Justice — Christ — with  an  effulgence  borrowed  from  the  very 
bosom  of  the  Almighty?  Eloquently  and  in  the  most  becoming 
manner,  Fr.  Fitzgerald,  a  fortnight  ago,  described  to  you  the 
singularly  peaceful  and  advanced  civilized  condition  of  the  Irish 
people  prior  to  the  time  of  which  I  am  to  speak,  the  fifth  centur^^ 
of  our  era.  He  showed  you  how  in  a  most  admirable  manner 
God  was  preparing  the  way  for  the  coming  of  the  great  apostle 
of  the  Irish  race,  St.  Patrick,  unconquered  by  Eoman  arms,  the 
Irish,  while  sleeping  in  the  dark  night  of  paganism,  yet  held  to 
certain  teachings  that  helped  them  to  welcome  the  dawning  of 
the  day  of  perfect  light,  belief  in  one  God,  in  the  immortality 
of  the  soul  and  in  reward  and  punishment  in  an  after  life  were 
safe  beacon  lights  leading  them  on  the  haven  of  truth. 

The  high  sense  of  personal  and  civic  honor  and  justice  as 
displayed  in  their  private  lives  and  incorporated  into  their  gov- 
erning codes  formed  a  natural  national  character  upon  which 
the  more  easily  the  divine  life  and  spirit  of  Christ  could  be  en- 
grafted. 

It  would  be  erroneous  to  suppose  that  the  heaven  born 
blessings  of  Christianity  were  totally  unknown  and  unenjoyed 
in  Ireland  before  the  fifth  century.  IVhile  it  is  true  that  the  en- 
tire nation  did  not  come  under  the  beneficient  sway  of  Christ 
and  His  church  until  that  period,  yet  there  were  Christians 
found  among  the  Irish  from  the  very  earliest  Christian  days, 
verifying  the  saying  of  Tertullian,  that  there  were  localities  in 
the  far  off  British  Isles  inaccessible  to  the  Eoman  arms  where 
Christ  found  willing  subjects. 

While  we  have  ample  historical  evidences  of  Christianity 
in  Ireland  even  in  the  early  ages  of  the  church,  at  least  in  indi- 
vidual cases,  and  while  the  number  of  Christ's  true  followers 
had  considerably  augmented  by  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  cen- 
tury, yet  the  great  body  of  the  people  were  at  that  period  pa- 
gans. 

In  431  we  find  Pope  Celestine  consecrating  a  Eoman-dea- 


REV.   BERNARD   S.    CONATY  31 

con,  by  name  Palladiiis,  and  with  a  band  of  zealous  missionaries 
sending  him  "to  the  Scots"  (that  is  the  Irish)  "to  be  their  first 
bishop. ' ' 

After  effecting  a  landing  and  laboring  for  a  short  while  in 
Wicklow  such  opposition  arose  that  St.  Palladius  and  his  band 
were  forced  to  seek  refuge  in  the  land  of  the  Picts,  where  the 
holy  bishoi3  soon  afterwards  died.  Celestiue,  nothing  daunted, 
looked  for  another  who  might  take  up  the  glorious  work  of 
evangelizing  the  Irish  nation  and  winning  it  to  Christ.  The 
new  apostle  chosen  by  the  Vicar  of  Christ  was  St.  Patrick.  He 
was  selected  to  be  God's  true  light  bearer  to  the  Irish  people. 
Through  his  blessed  apostolic  zeal  Pagan  Ireland  under  God's 
merciful  grace  soon  became  Christian  Ireland  ever  to  remain. 

It  would  carry  us  too  far  afield  to  even  attempt  to  consider 
the  details  of  the  marvelous  work  wrought  under  God  in  a  few 
short  years  by  St.  Patrick. 

There  are  characters  in  the  world's  history  that  have  so 
impressed  themselves  upon  their  time  as  to  elicit  the  admira- 
tion of  all  the  people  and  of  all  times.  Such  is  St.  Patrick, 
yet  whence  came  his  power  of  conquest?  He  had  been  a  lowly 
slave  on  the  very  hilltops  of  Erin.  He  gathered  not  about  him 
the  strength  of  multitudes.  He  commanded  no  invading  army. 
He  was  simply  God's  annointed  sent  by  the  successor  of  the 
humble  fisherman  of  Galilee  bearing  the  uplifted  cross  of 
Christ  and  surrounded  by  a  few  lowly  clerics. 

Boldly  he  kindled  on  one  of  the  hill  tops  the  Easter  fire  in 
honor  of  Christ's  victory  over  sin  and  death.  It  was  this  bright 
light  in  whose  glorious  shining  the  apostle  made  his  triumphal 
march  as  a  captive  of  Christ  to  the  very  hall  of  the  Kings  and 
the  sages  there,  like  Paul  at  Athens,  to  win  a  hearing  for  his 
crucified  Master.  Would  we  pause  here  to  inquire  avIio  this 
Envoy  to  the  Irish  nation  might  be  and  what  were  his  antece- 
dents"? 

Like  the  apostle  of  England,  Augustine,  and  the  Apostle  of 
Germany,  Boniface,  nothing  absolutely  definite  is  known  as  to 
the  exact  locality  or  even  country  where  St.  Patrick  was  born. 
The  late  Cardinal  i\roran,  a  most  learned  Irish  scholar,  inclined 
strongly  to  the  belief  that  he  was  born  at  Dumbarton,  in  Scot- 
land. Dr.  Langigan,  a  renowned  church  historian,  with  many 
others,  clings  to  the  belief  that  the  apostle  saw  the  light  of  day 
in  BoulogTie  Sur-Mer,  in  sunny  France.  In  his  Confession — a 
document  written  by  his  own  hand — we  read  the  following: 

"I,  Patrick,  a  sinner  the  most  unlearned  and  the  last 
of  all  the  faithful,  and  held  in  contempt  by  very  many,  had  Cal- 
phurnius,  a  deacon,  for  my  father,  the  son  of  Potitus,  who  lived 


32         THE    INTRODUCTION    OF    CHRISTIANITY    INTO    IRELAND 

in  Bennaven  Taberniae.    He  had  close  by  a  small  villa,  where  I 
was  taken  captive  when  I  was  nearly  sixteen  years  of  age." 

Just  where  Bennaven  Taberniae  was  is  a  tangle  in  the  skein 
that  neither  you  nor  I  can  unravel.  His  captivity  was  in  An- 
trim in  Ireland  and  lasted  six  years.  These  were  years  of  ex- 
traordinary youthful  piety  and  of  consequent  jDreparation  of 
heart  and  mind  for  his  future  apostolate.  With  the  burning- 
love  for  Christ  consuming  his  very  soul  he  besought  the  Lord 
to  hasten  the  day  of  deliverance  from  the  slavery  of  paganism 
of  the  Irish  nation.  Once  freed  he  set  himself  to  the  task  of  fit- 
ting himself  to  become  a  missionary  of  the  church  of  Jesu& 
Christ  among  those  children  of  the  Gael  whose  mysterious 
pleadings  for  his  return  among  them  he  strangely  heard. 

He  received  the  most  careful  training  under  his  kinsman, 
St.  Martin  of  Tours,  and  in  the  great  monastic  schools  of  Lerius 
Marmoutier,  as  well  as  under  the  saintly  guidance  of  St.  Ger- 
manus  of  Auxerre.  Such  was  the  high  esteem  in  which  St.  Ger- 
manus  held  the  saintly  learning  and  zeal  of  his  beloved  pupil, 
Succat,  or  Patrick,  that  he  recommended  him  to  Pope  Celestine 
for  the  Irish  missions.  As  he  set  out  on  his  journey  to  Eome 
Probus  tells  us  that  St.  Patrick  prayed  thus : 

''0,  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  lead  me,  I  beseech  Thee,  to  the  seat 
of  the  holy  Eoman  Church,  that  receiving  authority  to  preach 
with  confidence  Thy  truths,  the  Irish  nation  may  through  my 
ministry,  be  gathered  to  the  fold  of  Christ." 

The  four  masters  write :  ' '  St.  Patrick  was  ordained  to  the 
Episcopacy  by  the  Holy  Pope  Celestine  the  First,  who  com- 
missioned him  to  come  to  Ireland  and  preach  and  give  to  the 
Irish  the  precepts  of  faith  and  religion."  The  period  of  pre- 
paration for  this  glorious  missionary  work  covered  a  period  of 
over  thirty  years  so  that  the  apostle,  according  to  the  best  au- 
thorities, had  reached  at  least  sixty  years  of  age  when  in  the 
autumn  of  431  he  landed  on  Ireland.  What  marvels  were 
wrought  during  the  sixty  years  of  extraordinary  apostolate! 
Peruse  the  pages  of  the  glorious  history  of  the  church  and  find 
if  you  can  any  parallel  record.  The  north,  the  east,  the  west, 
the  south,  all  the  land  visited  by  the  intrepid  apostle  of  Christ 
— clan  after  clan  yields  to  the  mastery  of  the  cross,  struggles 
there  were  beyond  computing,  while  it  is  singularly  true  that 
the  apostolic  martyr's  blood  crimsoned  the  virgin  soil  of  Erin's 
church,  yet  it  would  be  folly  to  contend  that  the  cause  of  Christ 
triumphed  without  encountering  fierce  storms. 

Yet  what  was  the  spectacle  the  great  apostle  beheld  be- 
fore he  closed  his  eyes  to  the  things  of  earth  on  that  blessed 
17th  of  March,  493?    When  he  landed  on  Ireland,  the  people,. 


REV.   BERiNARD   S.    CONATY  33 

with  few  exceptions,  professing  the  Holy  Koman  Catholic  faith 
dotted  the  fair  land  everywhere — bishops  and  priests  ordained 
and  settled  among  all  the  clans  and  striving  after  virtue  in  its 
very  highest  forms — the  sowing  in  a  year  of  a  divinely  product- 
ive seed  when  were  germinating  already  Saints  of  the  most 
ascetic  type.  Who  can  look  upon  Ireland  in  this  marvelous 
apostolic  period  and  not  recall  the  early  church  when  all  were 
of  one  mind  and  one  heart — praising  God  and  giving  thanks 
for  the  one  great  blessing  of  the  faith  of  Jesus  Christ? 

To  speak  of  St.  Patrick  and  not  to  mention  St.  Bridget 
(the  Mary  of  Ireland)  his  spiritual  daughter,  would  be  not  to 
complete  the  story  of  Ireland's  glories  in  the  fifth  century. 
This  Irish  maid  was  inspired  with  burning  love  of  Christ,  re- 
ceiving a  snow  white  habit  as  a  nun.  Together  with  a  few  other 
young  virgins  of  Erin,  she  foimded  the  first  Irish  convent  at 
Kildare,  and  thus  began  that  remarkable  religious  woman  apos- 
tolate  of  Ireland,  that  continues  so  marvelously  the  world  over 
to  this  very  day. 

But  I  must  not  weary  you  longer.  One  thought — It  is  bor- 
rowed from  that  historical  incident  related  in  St.  Patrick's  life. 
We  are  told  that  among  the  first  converts  of  St.  Patrick  in  Ire- 
land, was  a  handsome  youth  named  Benignus.  As  St.  Patrick 
journeyed  to  Tara  he  became  exhausted  and  threw  himself  up- 
on the  bare  ground  near  the  banks  of  a  river.  As  he  slept,  Be- 
nignus, under  an  impulse  of  love  for  the  saint,  gathered  all  the 
fragrant  flowers  he  could  and  placed  them  in  the  bosom  of  the 
sleeping  saint.  St.  Patrick  awoke,  and  caught  by  the  innocence 
and  guileless  simplicity  of  the  boy,  foretold  his  future  sanctity 
and  greatness,  and  said,  * '  He  will  be  the  heir  of  my  kingdom. ' ' 
He  did  become  the  successor  of  St.  Patrick  in  the  see  of  Ar- 
magh. 

Again  it  is  related  that  when  St.  Patrick  visited  the  home 
of  the  parents  of  this  boy,  Benignus,  as  the  child  would  rest  no 
more  but  at  the  saint's  feet,  which  he  tenderly  kissed,  and  how 
when  morning  came  and  the  saint  rose  to  depart,  Benignus 
again  embraced  his  feet  and  with  many  tears  implored  permis- 
sion to  follow  him,  and  from  that  hour  he  became  the  companion 
of  the  apostle  in  his  labors  and  triumphs. 

May  we  in  our  honest,  childlike  simplicity  of  deei)  intelli- 
gent faith,  imitate  Benignus;  gathering  flowers  to  place  fre- 
quently with  all  our  heart's  warmest  affections  upon  the  bosom 
of  the  great  saint  to  whom  under  God,  we  are  indebted  for  the 
pearl  without  price,  our  Holy  Roman  Catholic  faith,  and  may 
ever  seek  to  sit  at  His  holy  feet  and  accompany  Him  through 
life  that  we  may  inherit  His  Kingdom  above. — The  Catholic 
Messenger,  Worcester,  Mass. 


2II|^  ^atttta  nnh  ^rljnkra 

(IRELAiND  IN  HER  GLORY) 
600—800 

BY 

REV.  JOHN  J.  KEATING 


One  bright  summer  day  in  the  latter  part  of  the  eighth 
century,  two  learned  Irish  scholars,  Clement  and  Albinus,  land- 
ing in  a  great  seaport  city  of  France,  went  through  the  market- 
place, attracting  the  attention  of  the  bartering  crowd  in  a  very 
novel  way  by  calling  out  loudly,  "Hear!  hear!  Whoever  wants 
wisdom  let  him  come  to  us;  for  'tis  we  that  have  it  to  sell!" 

This  questionably  modest  boast,  which  the  great  Emj^eror 
Charlemagne  afterwards  found  to  be  borne  out  by  the  scholarly 
erudition  of  the  travellers  in  this  particular  case,  might  well 
have  been  the  advertising  copy  of  all  the  great  Irish  schools  in 
those  days,  had  international  advertising  been  so  well  establish- 
ed then  as  now,  for  the  schools  that  flourished  in  Erin  during 
the  period  from  the  sixth  to  the  ninth  centuries,  which  we  are 
about  to  consider,  have  left  a  glorious  record  of  golden  gifts 
bestowed  alike  with  open-hearted  Irish  generosity  upon  all 
classes  of  the  Irish  people  and  upon  the  learned  world-weary 
strangers  who  sought  the  scholastic  quiet  of  Ireland's  saintly 
shore.  Well  might  the  poet  sing  the  praises  of  those  ancient 
schools : 

' '  I  would  the  great  world  grew  like  thee 
Who  grewest  not  alone  in  power 
And  knowledge,  but  by  year  and  hour 
In  reverence  and  in  charity." 

Reverence  for  the  laws  of  God  and  man,  reverence  for  all 
rightly  constituted  authority;  charity  for  friend  and  foe, — these 
have  ever  been  the  ideals  in  schools  under  Irish  patronage. 


Rev.  John  J.  Keating 


Rev.  Joliu  J.  Keating  was  born  December  4,  1879, 
in  Worcester,  Mass.  A  product  of  Worcester  schools, 
he  was  graduated  from  the  English  High  School  as 
orator  of  the  class  of  1899.  After  receiving  his  degree 
at  Holy  Cross  College  in  1903,  he  went  to  Montreal  for 
a  year  of  study  in  French  and  philosophy  at  the  Maison 
de  Philosphie,  an  institution  under  the  direction  of  the 
Sulpician  Fathers,  and  affiliated  with  the  Montreal 
(fraud  Seminary. 

In  1904,  Father  Keating  was  sent  to  Belgium  by 
Eight  Eeverend  Thomas  D.  Beaven,  Bishop  of  Spring- 
field, for  a  three  years'  course  in  theology  at  the  Ameri- 
can College,  one  of  the  many  institutions  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Louvain.  In  1906,  a  Gaelic  Class  was  organized 
with  headquarters  at  the  American  College,  and  Father 
Keating  was  among  those  enrolled.  Father  Keating- 
was  ordained  a  priest  in  Louvain,  July  14,  1907.  He  is 
now  assistant  to  the  Eev.  William  H.  Goggin,  LL.  D., 
in  St.  Paul's  Parish,  Worcester,  Mass. 


REV.  JOHN  J.  KEATING  35 

Religion  played  a  leading  part  in  their  origin  and  devel- 
opment, as  nearly  all  the  great  schools  of  this  period  were  ec- 
-clesiastical.  Such,  for  example,  were  those  founded  even  before 
the  seventh  century  by  St.  Benignus  at  Kilbennan,  St.  Mel  at 
Ardagh,  St.  Ciaran  at  Clonmacnoise,  St.  Ibar  in  Ulster,  St.  De- 
clan  at  Ardmore,  St.  Ida  at  Killeedy,  and  St.  Bridgid  in  Kil- 
dare,  where  St.  Finnen  taught  and  preached  before  he  founded 
Clonard.  Many  of  the  masters  are  numbered  among  the  Irish 
saints,  some  of  whom  undoubtedly  received  popular  rather  than 
formal  canonization.  The  most  learned  scholars  of  the  day  ap- 
plied themselv>es  to  the  study  and  teaching  of  the  Gospel  and 
their  auditors  were  both  clergy  and  laymen. 

The  curriculum  of  these  early  Christian  schools  did  not, 
however,  stop  short  with  theology  and  scripture.  While  we  may 
point  with  pride  to  the  theological  attainments  of  great  Irish 
minds  of  this  period  like  Sedulius  and  Donatus  who  taught  in 
Italy,  we  must  also  remember  that  literature  and  the  fine  arts 
were  not  forgotten.  Music  was  cultivated  by  scholars  and  peo- 
ple; psalmody  in  the  schools  and  traditional  tunes  among  the 
layfolk.  The  Irish  scholars  seem  also  to  have  been  in  demand 
as  teachers  of  music.  In  the  seventh  century,  Gertrude,  the 
daughter  of  Pepin,  engaged  Saints  Foillan  and  Ultan,  brothers 
of  Irish  St.  Fursa  of  Perrone,  to  teach  psalmody  to  the  religious 
of  her  convent  at  Nivelle  in  France.  In  Charlemagne 's  time,  the 
cloister  schools  of  St.  Gall  with  their  Irish  monks  were  famous 
for  their  teaching  of  Gregorian  music.  In  the  latter  half  of  the 
ninth  century,  the  same  schools,  under  the  direction  of  Maen- 
gal,  an  Irishman,  acquired  a  high  reputation  for  music  studies 
and  later  produced  Notker  Balbulus,  one  of  the  most  celebrated 
of  mediaeval  musicians. 

The  classical  languages  were  taught  in  most  of  the  schools^ 
■^  *  The  Renaissance, ' '  says  Darmesteter, ' '  began  in  Ireland  seven 
hundred  years  before  it  was  known  in  Italy."  At  a  period 
when  so  learned  a  man  as  Gregory  the  Great  had  little  or  no 
knowledge  of  the  Greek  classics,  Ireland  had  such  men  as  Col- 
umbanus,  born  in  the  year  543,  of  whom  the  great  French  phil- 
ologist, Arbois  de  Jubainville,  says:  ''It  is  sufficient  to  glance 
at  his  writings  immediately  to  recognize  his  marvelous  super- 
iority over  Gregory  of  Tours  and  the  Gallo-Romans  of  his  time. 
He  lived  in  close  converse  with  the  classical  authors  "  Such 
was  the  passion  of  Irish  students  for  Greek  that  they  often 
transcribed  the  Latin  of  the  Scriptures  in  Greek  characters.  It 
was  the  classical  culture  of  the  ninth  century  that  made  possible 
the  scholarship  of  the  Irishman,  John  Scotus  Erigena,  the  most 
learned  man  of  his  day  in  Europe,  and  the  only  scholar  in  Paris 


3€  THE  SAINTS  AND  SCHOLARS 

who  was  able  to  translate  the  Greek  writings  of  the  pseudo- 
Dionysius. 

Geography  and  history  were  taught  in  Gaelic  poetry.  There 
is  extant  an  interesting  geographic  poem  in  Irish  written  by 
one  of  the  teachers  of  the  school  of  Eoss  in  Northwest  Munster 
in  the  tenth  century.  It  was  intended  to  be  learned  by  heart,- 
and  the  poetry  is  probably  better  than  the  geography  judged 
by  present  day  standards.  The  ' '  Navigatio  Brendani, ' '  a  man- 
uscript which  relates  the  adventures  of  St.  Brendan  during  his 
seven  years'  voyage  in  the  Atlantic,  is  a  writing  that  attracted 
much  attention  on  the  part  of  the  mediaeval  scholars.  Manu- 
script copies  of  the  work  are  found  in  Paris,  Leipzig  and  the 
Vatican  Library  dating  variously  from  the  ninth  to  the  thir- 
teenth centur}^  Brendan  was  one  of  the  "Twelve  Apostles  of 
Ireland."  He  founded  the  famous  Irish  School  of  Clonfert  on 
the  Shannon  about  556,  and  is  said  to  have  made  the  seven 
years'  voyage  in  three  vessels,  carrying  one  hundred  twen- 
ty men,  who  set  out  to  find  the  Beautiful  Island  of  the  Western 
Sea,  spoken  of  in  old  pagan  traditions.  It  has  been  claimed  by 
some  that  he  discovered  America,  but  the  claim  must  be  ranked 
with  other  improbable  geographic  legends  of  pre-Columbian 
discoveries  of  our  continent. 

The  history  of  Ireland  had  been  preserved  for  the  Christ- 
ian schools  by  the  bards,  who,  from  the  earliest  days,  had  sung 
the  name  and  fame  of  their  kings  or  chieftans.  The  writings 
of  the  monks  added  to  these  records  the  lives  of  the  Irish  and 
foreign  saints. 

Calligraphy,  the  art  of  making  beautifully  decorated  man- 
uscripts, was  highly  cultivated  in  the  Irish  monasteries  from  the 
time  of  Columba.  Hundreds  of  monks  were  occupied  day  by 
day  in  the  work  of  transcribing  the  Holy  Scriptures  as  well  as 
the  teachings  of  the  Early  Fathers  of  the  Church  and  in  writing 
the  lives  of  the  saints.  Copies  of  these  works  were  dispersed 
throughout  Europe  by  monks  who  came  from  England  and  the 
Continent  to  borrow  the  priceless  parchments  or  to  make  copies 
for  their  own  monastic  libraries.  Nor  were  the  Greek  and  Latin 
authors  slighted  by  the  calligraphers.  Beautifully  illuminated 
manuscripts  of  these  classics  were  reproduced,  sometimes  with 
a  commentary  in  Irish,  like  that  priceless  copy  of  Horace  which 
modern  research  has  discovered  in  the  library  of  Berne.  The 
greatest  archeologists  and  philologists  of  modern  times,  like 
Zeuss,  Keller  and  Beeves,  have  studied,  admired  and  quoted 
the  Irish  manuscripts  that  are  found  in  Continental  and  Anglo- 
Saxon  libraries.  Jubainville  states  that  one  thousand  nine 
Gaelic  manuscripts  copied  before  the  year  1600,  are  found  iu 


REV.  JOHN  J.  KEATING  W' 

Continental  and  British  libraries,  not  counting  those  in  private 
collections  nor  those  destroyed.  The  vastness  of  the  destruction 
may  be  surmised  from  the  fact  that  the  School  of  Clonard  alone 
was  plundered  and  destroyed  twelve  times  and  burnt,  either 
wholly  or  in  part,  fourteen  times.  What  must  have  been  the 
destruction  of  valuable  documents  in  this  case  alone!  Douglas 
Hyde  quotes  a  German  authority  as  estimating  that  the  liter- 
ature of  Irish  production  before  the  year  1600  would  fill  one 
thousand  octavo  volumes, — law,  medicine  and  science  being 
therein  comprised. 

Shall  we  s^y  that  these  schools  had  elective  courses'?  In 
the  sense  of  "snap  courses,"  they  had  none;  but  there  were 
certain  men  who  specialized  in  some  particular  branch.  One 
of  these  was  Dungal,  the  Astronomer,  who  elicited  the  admira- 
tion of  Charlemagne  in  the  early  part  of  the  ninth  century,  by 
addressing  a  treatise  on  the  solar  eclipse  to  that  famous  patron 
of  learning  who  had  already  put  our  old  friends  Clement  and 
Albinus  in  charge  of  two  of  his  seminaries.  Many  of  the  early 
saints,  like  Bishop  Fortchern,  were  skilled  artificers  in  bronze 
and  metal.  In  fact,  so  much  is  to  be  said  of  the  arts  of  calli- 
graphy, carving,  metallurgy  and  architecture,  that  a  complete 
lecture  on  the  subject  has  been  arranged  for  in  this  series. 

The  prime  purpose  of  the  monastic  schools  was  to  prepare 
men  for  the  priesthood;  consequently  Holy  Scripture  and  theol- 
ogy were  the  principal  studies.  As  a  foundation  for  deeper 
study,  they  had  to  learn  all  the  psalms  by  heart.  Reciting  these, 
day  by  day  in  choir,  and  meditating  upon  their  beauties  as  ex- 
pounded by  the  learned  fathers  of  the  monastery,  the  Irish 
monks  came  to  a  knowledge  and  understanding  of  the  Sacred 
Scriptures  that  could  not  be  attained  by  mere  technical  exe- 
gesis. Their  eighth  and  ninth  century  manuscripts  of  the  New 
Testament,  "covered  with  Irish  glosses,  and  Irish  poems  and 
Irish  notes,"  says  Prof.  Stokes,  "have  engaged  the  attention 
of  paleographers  and  students  of  the  Greek  texts  for  the  last 
two  centuries."  They  form  the  basis  of  Dr.  Eeeves'  assertion 
that  the  Irish  school  of  this  time  ' '  was  unquestionably  the  most 
advanced  of  its  day  in  Sacred  Literature. ' ' 

We  cannot  too  strongly  emphasize  the  fact  that  lessons 
were  conducted  in  the  Gaelic  tongue  during  the  sixth  century, 
when  in  no  other  country  of  Europe  had  the  vernacular  been 
sufficiently  cultivated  to  be  a  suitable  medium  for  literary  and 
scientific  instruction.  Remember  that  Ceadmon,  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  poet  whose  name  is  associated  with  our  earliest  English 
literature,  belonged  to  a  monastery  that  was  not  founded  till 
657;  Dante,  the  morning  star  of  Italian  literature,  will  not  shine 


3-8-  THE  SAINTS  AND  SCHOLARS 

forth  till  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century ;  Chaucer  is  not  born 
till  1340;  yet,  in  the  sixth  century,  Ireland  is  thronged  with 
scholars  who  come  to  hear  her  learning  poured  forth  in  the 
Irish  tongue.  All  the  early  saints  and  masters  had  been  educat- 
ed from  boyhood  in  the  Gaelic,  and  the  most  distinguished 
teachers  were  at  the  same  time  poets  who  wrote  in  Gaelic. 

The  scope  of  the  great  monastic  schools  of  the  sixth  and 
especially  of  the  seventh  century  was  broad  enough  to  meet 
the  wants  of  the  layman  who  desired  to  become  an  ollamh  or 
master  in  literature,  architecture,  law,  history  or  medicine. 
This  fact  explains  the  recorded  accounts  of  the  large  number  of 
lay  students  who  joined  with  the  clergy  in  seeking  wisdom. 
Thus  we  have  record  of  3000  monks  and  students  at  one  time  in 
the  sixth  century,  attending  the  School  of  Bangor  in  Ulster  and 
living  under  the  rule  of  St.  Comgall;  and  in  Cork,  Eoss-Ailithir, 
*Hhe  wood  of  the  pigeons,"  received  its  name  from  the  throng 
of  students  that  flocked  hither,  while  Emiligh  under  St.  Ailbhi 
had  so  many  students  about  the  year  740,  in  the  reign  of  Cathal 
(i.  e.  Cahill)  McFinguine,  that  'Hhey  were  forced  to  live  in  huts 
in  the  neighboring  fields."  Indeed  it  may  be  safely  said  that 
the  students  of  many  Irish  schools  in  the  sixth  century  and  for 
some  time  after  found  lodging  in  individual  tent-like  houses  or 
huts  constructed  somewhere  in  the  vicinity  of  the  master's  cell 
or  oratory.  Even  the  great  monastic  schools  of  a  much  later 
date  were  not  at  all  like  the  mediaeval  monastic  settlement, 
* '  a  noble  pile  of  buildings  with  stately  church  rising  in  the  cen- 
ter surrounded  by  beautiful  cloisters,  doimitories  and  kitchen," 
— the  cottages  of  the  villagers  clustered  close  to  the  protecting 
monastery  walls.  Some  authorities  say  that  stone  buildings 
were  not  at  all  common  in  Ireland  even  in  the  seventh  century, 
and  that  the  majority  of  the  churches  were  built  of  wood,  al- 
though there  are  some  few  stone  churches  that  date  from  the 
sixth  century.  But  there  was  no  need  of  college  buildings  such 
as  libraries,  laboratories  and  gymnasia.  The  instruction  in  the 
sixth  century  Irish  school  was  chiefly  oral.  There  were  no 
books  and  the  manuscripts  were  but  few  and  highly  prized.  In- 
struction was  often  given  in  the  open  air,  the  preceptor  taking 
his  stand  on  the  summit  of  a  hill,  his  auditors  seated  round  on 
its  slopes — thus  hundreds  and  even  thousands  could  be  accom- 
modated. 

Many  of  the  students  were  transients,  travelling  from 
school  to  school,  and  getting  their  food  and  lodging  from  the 
country  folk  in  return  for  entertainment.  Many's  the  bit  of  his- 
tory and  folk-lore  was  passed  on  from  generation  to  generation 
through  these  travelling  scholars.    Those  who  stayed  on  at  the 


REV.  JOHN  J.  KEATING  39 

school  throughout  the  year  built  their  own  huts,  planted,  herd- 
ed the  cattle  or  ground  corn  at  the  quern  between  study  periods. 
Many  a  saint  intending  to  spend  his  life  in  solitude  soon  found 
his  cell  in  the  wilderness  surrounded  by  the  huts  of  scholars 
brought  hither  through  the  fame  of  his  learning  to  become  his 
disciples. 

The  sons  of  gentlemen  were  trained  by  their  tutors  in  horse- 
manship, chess,  swimming  and  the  use  of  the  spear.  Football 
and  polo  were  not  yet  developed,  but  there  was  plenty  of  athlet- 
ic exercise  even  in  the  comparatively  peaceful  days  of  the  sev- 
enth and  eighth  centuries.  Parties  of  noble  youth  would  some- 
times leave  the  school  and  ride  away  into  the  neighboring 
countryside  to  chastize  someone  who  had  insulted  or  injured 
some  member  of  the  clan.  Thus  we  read  of  Prince  Cathal  (Ca- 
hill),  the  second  son  of  the  king  of  Connacht,  leaving  Clonard 
in  the  year  645  at  the  head  of  a  party  of  twenty-seven  students  of 
his  own  people  to  avenge  the  murder  of  his  father.  The  monks 
themselves,  when  occasion  demanded,  could  lay  aside  books  for 
bucklers  and  were  not  at  all  averse  to  taking  part  with  their 
students  and  clansmen  in  whatever  battle  was  waging  for  the 
honor  of  the  clan.  So,  peaceful  as  the  seventh  and  eighth  cen- 
turies were,  no  student  or  warrior  need  die  of  ennui  if  he  pre- 
ferred to  die  of  a  spearwound.  It  was  only  in  the  year  697  that 
Adamnan,  the  tenth  abbot  of  lona,  secured  the  passage  of  the 
Law  of  the  Innocents,  forbidding  women  to  enter  battle. 

How  tame  and  peurile  are  the  college  rivalries  of  modern 
days,  when  we  read  that  in  the  eighth  century  two  hundred  men 
of  the  school  of  Darrow  perished  in  a  battle  with  the  neighbor- 
ing scholars  of  Clonmacnoise;  and  the  old  annalists  record  that 
eight  hundred  monks  took  part  in  a  battle  that  was  fought  in 
the  year  816. 

A  passage  from  the  Brehon  laws  leads  us  to  surmise  that 
there  may  have  been  quite  a  few  ''gayboys"  among  the  college 
students  even  in  those  days.  The  law  relates  to  the  wearing  of 
brooch-pins,  and  you  members  of  the  legislature  will  observe 
that  there  is  nothing  original  in  the  new  hatpin  law  which  our 
gallant  guardians  of  the  peace  permit  to  be  ^'more  honored  in 
the  breach  than  in  the  observance;"  for  what  do  we  find  the 
farsighted  lawyers  on  ancient  Erin  setting  forth  in  the  sixth 
century  law  code  but  the  following:  ^'Men  are  guiltless  of  pins 
worn  upon  their  shoulders,  provided  they  do  not  project  too 
far;  but  if  they  should,  the  case  is  to  be  adjudged  by  the  crimin- 
al law. ' '  Now  what  sweet  consolation  to  any  twentieth  century 
lady  who  has  ever  been  informed  by  a  hyper-observant  member 
of  the  traffic  squad  that  the  Damascus  blades  of  her  headgear 


iOk  THE  SAINTS  AND  SCHOLiARS 

are  unsheathed!    We  trust  that  the  women  of  that  day  took 
exceptional  care  to  see  that  the  law  was  enforced — on  the  men. 

At  the  Feis  of  Drom  Ceata  in  575,  the  laws  and  the  general 
system  of  education  were  revised  so  as  to  conform  more  closely 
to  the  Christian  standards  set  forth  by  St.  Columba  (Colum- 
cille)  and  one  hundred  twenty  of  his  monks  whom  King  Aedh 
(i.  e.  Hugh)  had  called  from  the  island  monastery  of  lona  to 
participate  in  the  discussion.  A  feis  in  those  days  was  a  gen- 
eral council,  and  the  great  question  of  the  Feis  of  Drom  Ceata 
was  the  fate  of  the  bards.  The  bardic  schools  were  distinct 
from  the  monastic  and  far  more  ancient  than  Christianity  itself 
in  Ireland;  but  the  bards  had  deteriorated  and  finally  had  be- 
come a  crowd  of  educated  vagabonds  and  a  heart-scald  to  the 
country.  So  thought  King  Aedh  and  he  had  fully  determined  to 
suppress  them  and  to  revoke  their  ancient  privileges;  but  the 
bards'  cause  was  championed  by  St.  Columba  before  whose  im- 
passioned eloquence  the  king  and  his  advisers  were  forced  to 
retreat. 

The  deliberations  of  the  Feis  resulted  in  the  formation  of 
a  new  system  of  schools  intended  to  dit^use  the  learning  of  the 
bards  throughout  the  kingdom.  Twenty  bishops,  forty  priests, 
besides  Columba 's  retinue,  thirty  deacons,  a  multitude  of  other 
clerics,  a  vast  throng  of  bards  and  many  nobles  were  at  hand 
to  be  heard  from  and  to  offer  suggestions.  Not  mine  to  picture 
that  flow  of  eloquence!  But,  after  some  months,  special  oUamhs 
of  teaching  or  doctors  of  literature  were  assigned  to  the  mon- 
arch, the  provincial  kings,  and  to  the  chiefs  and  lords  of  terri- 
tory. To  each  ollamh  they  granted  free  lands  and  inviolability 
of  person.  The  Royal  Poet  Eochaidh,  who  afterwards  wrote 
the  ''Elegy  on  the  Death  of  Columba,"  was  appointed  head  of 
the  system;  and,  assigned  to  the  different  provinces  as  super- 
visors were  Aedh  or  Hugh  the  Poet  for  Meath,  Urmael  for 
Munster,  Seanchan  (i.  e.  Slianahan)  MacCuairfertaigh  for  Con- 
nacht  and  Ferfirb  MacMuiredhaigh  (Murray)  for  Ulster.  En- 
dowments were  also  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  ollamhs  or 
masters  to  afford  gratuitous  education  to  those  men  of  Erin 
who  desired  to  become  learned.  Who  says,  then,  that  the  Irish 
hadn't  college  scholarships  in  the  sixth  century?  Moreover,  at 
lay  schools,  where  several  pupils  lodged  at  the  master's  house, 
the  sons  of  the  tenant  class  waited  on  the  sons  of  the  gentry, 
receiving  tuition  and  maintenance.  So,  waiting  on  college  ta- 
ble for  tuition  is  a  tradition  of  early  Irish  college  days.  ^ 

An  extract  from  one  of  the  law  manuscripts  in  Trinity  Col- 
lege, Dublin,  will  show  the  relations  established  by  law  between 
teacher  and  pupil.    ''The  union,"  says  the  legal  writer,  "which 


REV.  JOHN  J.  KEATING  41 

is  recognized  between  the  pupil  and  the  tutor,  or  instructing 
father,  as  he  is  called,  is  this:  the  tutor  bestowed  instruction 
without  reservation  and  correction  without  violence  upon  the 
pupil;  and  he  supplied  him  with  food  and  clothing  as  long  as 
he  continued  to  pursue  his  legitimate  studies  if  he  did  not  re- 
ceive them  from  anyone  else."  The  pupil,  on  his  part,  was 
legally  bound  to  assist  or  relieve  his  tutor  in  case  he  was  needy 
in  his  old  age.  The  tutor  was  entitled  to  the  profits  arising 
from  literary  or  other  work  of  the  pupil  during  his  time  of 
schooling,  and  to  the  first  fees  of  the  ollamh's  professional 
career. 

An  interesting  reference  to  these  filial  duties  is  found  in  a 
text  of  Aengus  the  Culdee,  dating  from  the  early  part  of  the 
ninth  century.  As  explained  by  a  very  ancient  scholist,  it  gives 
a  pleasing  instance  of  kindly  obedience  to  the  law,  bidding  pu- 
pils cherish  the  old  age  of  their  instructors.  Maelruan  (Mul- 
rooney)  of  Tallaght  near  Dublin,  had  been  the  master  of  Aengus 
who  thus  alludes  to  the  tender  care  lavished  on  the  aged  mas- 
ter by  his  former  pupils: 

^'Maelruan,  after  our  nursing  him, 

The  shining  sun  of  Meatli  's  southern  border, 

At  his  undefiled  sepulchre 

The  wounds  of  all  hearts  are  healed. ' ' 

Here  is  an  extract  from  the  Brehon  Law  showing  the  in- 
demnity of  the  master  for  damage  done  by  his  charges:  ''The 
poet  commands  his  pupils.  The  man  from  whom  education  is 
received  is  free  from  the  crimes  of  his  pupils  if  they  be  children 
of  natives,  even  though  he  feeds  and  clothes  them  and  that  they 
pay  him  for  his  learning.  He  is  free,  even  though  it  be  a 
stranger  that  he  instructs,  feeds  and  clothes,  provided  it  is  for 
God  that  he  does  it.  If  he  feeds  and  instructs  a  stranger  for 
pay,  it  is  then  that  he  is  accountable  for  his  crimes.''  That's 
what  you  may  call  a  "law  of  hospitality!" 

This  warm  Irish  hospitality  was  appreciated  and  accept- 
ed. ' '  For  three  centuries,  Ireland  was  the  asylum  of  the  higher 
learning  which  took  sanctuary  there  from  the  uncultured  states 
of  Europe.  At  one  time,  the  religious  capital  of  Christian  Ire- 
land was  the  metropolis  of  civilization. ' '  The  quotation  is  from 
Hyde's  Literary  History  of  Ireland.  The  Litany  of  Aengus  the 
Culdee  invokes  the  name  of  many  a  saintly  and  scholarly 
stranger  who  had  come  to  Erin's  classic  shore  to  find  such  peace 
as  Dante  sought  within  the  cloister  of  Era  Hilario.  Romans, 
*Gauls,  Germans  and  Britons  find  mention  in  this  document,  and 


42  THE  SAINTS  AiND  SCHOLARS 

even  Egyptian  monks,  of  whom  seven  are  listed.  The  greatest 
number  of  foreign  students  came  from  Great  Britain.  They 
came  in  '^ fleet-loads,"  according  to  a  letter  written  about  the 
year  705  by  Aldhelm,  Bishop  of  Sherborne  to  Eadfrid,  Bishop 
of  Lindisfarne.  The  Venerable  Bede,  himself  an  English  priest, 
tells  us  that  the  scholars  of  his  country  went  over  to  Ireland  in 
great  number  in  the  year  664,  the  time  of  the  great  i^lague,  and 
were  warmly  received  by  the  Irish,  who  provided  them  with 
food  and  gratuitous  education. 

In  the  ninth  century  we  find  Alcuin  sending  letters  from 
the  court  of  Charlemagne  to  his  friends  at  the  school  of  Clon- 
macnoise.  Dagobert  II,  King  of  France,  spent  eighteen  or  twen- 
ty years  of  his  youth  in  the  School  of  Slane  in  Meath,  near  the 
residence  of  the  high  kings  of  Ireland.  The  English  prince, 
Albert  of  Northumbria,  was  educated  in  Erin,  and  Aldhelm 
the  Abbot  of  Malmesbury,  expressed  the  sentiment  of  other 
English  scholars  when,  in  a  Latin  epistle,  he  congratulated  the 
king  on  his  good  fortune  in  obtaining  an  Irish  education.  The 
same  Aldhelm  is  also  authority  for  the  statement  that  the  Eng- 
lish scholars  were  swarming  like  bees  to  the  Irish  schools,  while 
the  great  school  of  Canterbury  was  far  from  overcrowded.  King 
Aldfrid,  when  leaving  Ireland,  composed  the  following  poem: 

''I  found  in  Inisfail  the  Fair 
In  Ireland,  while  in  exile  there. 
Women  of  worth,  both  grave  and  gay  men. 
Learned  clerics,  heroic  laymen. 

I  travelled  its  fruitful  provinces  round, 
And  in  every  one  of  the  five  I  found. 
Alike  in  church  and  palace  hall 
Abundant  apparel  and  food  for  all." 

St.  Willibrord,  a  noble  Saxon  educated  in  Ireland,  became 
the  Archbishop  of  LTtrecht.  Agilbert,  a  Frank  by  birth,  became 
Bishop  of  Paris  after  his  studies  in  Ireland.  And  now,  just  a 
little  pedagogical  touch  before  we  come  to  speak  of  Columba. 

The  Irish  schoolmaster  has  always  been  a  firm  believer  in 
the  efficacy  of  corporal  punishment  as  a  balm  to  the  feelings  of 
both  master  and  pupil.  From  the  days  when  the  saints  them- 
selves were  teachers  down  to  the  days  of  the  hedge  schoolmas- 
ter who  made  some  of  our  more  proximate  ancestors  smart,  the 
sentiment  of  Irish  instructors  has  been  thoroughly  in  accord 
with  the  latest  findings  of  a  great  pedagogical  authority  as  re- 
cently made  known  to  the  teachers  at  their  convention  in  Chi- 


REV.  JOHN  J.  KEATING  43 

cago.  It  might  be  given  to  the  pedagogical  world  as  the  an- 
cient golden  precept  of  Irish  school  discipline:  Swat  while 
your  ire  is  hot! 

An  application  of  said  rule  and  an  illustration  of  its  bene- 
ficent results  comes  to  hand  in  the  story  of  St.  Baothin.  When 
this  young  scion  of  a  noble  race, — for  in  truth  he  was  a  nephew 
of  St.  Columba, — was  studying  in  the  school  of  St.  Colman  Ela, 
his  voluntary  dullness  so  tried  the  patience  of  the  saint  that  one 
day  the  latter  without  word  or  warning  suddenly  smote  the 
young  blockhead  hard  upon  the  jowl  and  was  endeavoring  to 
make  even  more  of  an  impression,  when  Baothin,  taking  the 
first  blow  for  marching  orders,  quickly  hied  him  to  the 
neighboring  woods.  There  he  became  interested  in  the  work  of 
a  man  who  was  building  a  house  by  weaving  rods  one  after 
another  between  posts  that  had  been  set  up  in  the  ground. 
Baothin  moralized  on  the  manner  in  which  the  house  was  rising 
slowly  but  surely  through  the  rods  being  woven  in  one  by  one, 
and  thought  how  he,  too,  might  have  built  the  edifice  of  learn- 
ing had  he  but  applied  himself  to  the  work.  Came  a  rain  storm, 
and  the  Desolate  Baothin,  standing  in  the  shelter  of  an  oak 
tree,  observed  the  rain,  falling  drop  by  drop  from  one  leaf  upon 
a  particular  spot,  and  pressing  his  heel  upon  this  spot  he  made 
a  hollow  which  soon  filled  up  by  the  constant  dripping  of  the 
rain.    Then  he  spoke  this  lay: 

''Of  drops  a  pond  is  filled, 

Of  rods  a  house  is  built ; 

The  house  which  is  favored  of  God, 

More  and  more  numerous  will  be  its  family. 

''Had  I  attended  to  my  own  lessons 
At  all  times  and  in  all  places. 
Though  small  my  progress  at  a  time. 
Still  I  would  acquire  sufficient  learning. 

"It  is  the  single  rod  which  the  man  cuts 
And  which  he  weaves  upon  his  house: 
The  house  rises  pleasantly, 
Though  singly  he  sets  the  rod. 

' '  The  hollow  which  my  heel  hath  made, 
Be  thanks  to  God  and  St.  Colman, 
Is  filled  in  every  shower  by  the  single  drop; 
The  single  drop  becomes  the  pool. 


44-  THE  SAINTS  AND  SCHOLARS 

"I  make  a  vow  that  while  I  live 

I  will  not  henceforth  my  lessons  abandon; 

Whatever  the  difficulty  may  be  to  me, 

It  is  cultivating  learning  I  shall  always  be," 

We  may  well  suppose  that  the  poem,  and  especially  the 
resolution,  restored  the  youthful  Baothin  to  the  good  graces  of 
St.  Colman;  and  we  have  convincing  evidence  that  the  resolu- 
tion was  kept,  for  when  the  great  abbot  and  founder  of  lona 
was  laid  to  rest,  it  was  Baothin  who  became  head  master  of  the 
school  and  abbot  in  his  stead. 

The  greatest  man  of  this  period,  and  probably  the  great- 
est Irishman  known  to  history,  is  St.  Columcille,  or  Columba. 
Unlike  St.  Patrick,  he  was  an  Irishman,  born  in  Garten,  County 
Donegal,  Dec.  7,  521.  He  was  of  royal  blood,  being  a  descendant 
of  Niall  of  the  Nine  Hostages,  that  restless  warrior  king  of  Ire- 
land who  ravaged  Britain  in  the  fourth  century.  Columba  was 
a  poet,  a  statesman,  a  warrior  and  a  great  missionary  saint. 
* ' His  name, ' '  says  Healey,  ' ' is  dear  to  every  child  of  the  Scotic 
race  in  Erin  and  in  Alba, — and,  what  is  stranger  still,  monk  and 
priest  though  he  was,  his  memory  is  cherished"  by  Catholic 
and  Protestant  alike.  In  his  youth  he  was  sent  to  the  monastic 
school  at  Moville,  for  Ireland,  since  the  death  of  Patrick  some 
half  century  previous,  had  produced  a  large  number  of  such 
small  colleges.  Here  he  stayed  imtil  ordained  deacon;  then  went 
to  study  in  Leinster  under  the  bard  Gemman,  and  hence  to 
Clonard  to  St.  Finnian,  who  had  studied  in  Wales  and  who 
taught  Columba  the  traditions  of  the  Welsh  church. 

Clonard  was  a  famous  school  in  Columba 's  day.  It  had 
been  founded  by  St.  Finnian  about  520,  the  fact  being  com- 
memorated in  the  breviary  on  St.  Finnian 's  feast  by  an  old  Lat- 
in hymn  whose  jingling  metre  would  fit  it  perfectly  to  the  tune 
of  one  of  our  popular  patriotic  songs, — 

"Reversus  in  Clonardiam 
Ad  cathedram  lecturae 
Apponit  diligentiam 
Ad  studium  scripturae," 

Finnian  is  rightly  called  the  ''Tutor  of  the  Irish  Saints." 
From  his  school  came  the  Twelve  Apostles  of  Ireland:  Ciaran 
of  Clonmacnoise  and  Ciarn  of  Saigher;  Brendan  of  Birr,  "the 
Prophet,"  and  Brendan  of  Clonfert,  "the  Navigator;"  Columba 
of  the  Churches,  i.  e.  Colum-cille  of  whom  we  are  speaking,  and 
Columba  of  Tir-da-Glas;  Mobhi  of  Glasnevin  and  Rodan  of 


REV.  JOHN  J.  KEATING  45 

Lorrha;  Senanus  of  Inniseatliy,  Ninnidh  of  Lock  Erne,  Lasser- 
ian  and  finally  St.  Cainnech  of  Kilkenny,  known  in  Scotland  as 
St.  Kenneth.  It  was  men  of  this  type  that  Columba  met  at  Clon- 
ard,  engaged  in  study,  labor,  prayer  and  fasting.  It  is  related 
that  one  day  Finnian  said  to  his  beloved  disciple  Senachus,  * '  Go 
and  see  what  each  of  my  disciples  is  doing  at  this  moment." 
Senachus  went  on  his  errand  and  found  them  all  busy  at  their 
various  tasks.  ''Some  were  engaged  in  manual  labor,"  says 
the  ancient  manuscript,  ' '  some  were  studying  the  Sacred  Scrip- 
tures, and  others,  especially  Columba  of  Tir-da-Glas,  he  found 
engaged  in  prayer  with  his  hands  stretched  out  to  heaven  and 
the  birds  came  and  alighted  on  his  shoulders.  ''He  it  is,"  said 
Finnian,  "who  shall  offer  up  the  Holy  Sacrifice  for  me  at  the 
hour  of  my  death,  "^ — for  his,  it  seems,  was  pre-eminently  the 
spirit  of  holy  prayer  and  meekness. 

Leaving  Clonard,  Columba  went  to  the  school  of  Mobhi  at 
Glasnevin  near  Dublin,  where  some  fifty  students  were  at  work. 
Driven  thence  by  the  plague,  he  went  northward  to  the  home  of 
his  cousin,  the  Prince  of  Aileach,  near  Derry.  The  Prince  of- 
fered him  the  so-called  Island  of  Derry,  a  rising  plot  of  ground 
of  oval  shape,  covering  some  two  hundred  acres,  along  the- 
slopes  of  which  flourished  a  splendid  forest  of  oak  trees,  giving 
the  place  its  name  of  Derry  or  the  Oak  Grove.  This  grove  was 
a  perpetual  joy  to  Columba,  who  was  a  great  lover  of  the  beau- 
tiful in  nature.  He  changed  the  intended  position  of  his  church 
when  he  found  that  some  of  the  trees  must  be  felled  if  the  orig- 
inal plan  of  placement  were  carried  out.  He  gave  strict  orders 
that  his  successor  should  spare  the  lovely  grove  and  that  if  any 
of  the  trees  should  be  blown  down,  part  of  the  wood  should  be 
stored  as  fuel  for  their  own  guest-house  and  the  rest  be  given 
to  the  poor. 

Years  after,  on  the  desolate  island  of  lona,  Columba  re- 
called the  peaceful,  happy  days  spent  at  this,  the  first  monas- 
tery of  his  founding,  and  wrote  the  poem  on  Derry: 

"That  spot  is  the  dearest  on  Erin's  ground 
For  the  treasures  that  peace  and  that  purity  lend, 
For  the  hosts  of  bright  angels  that  circle  it  round 
Protecting  its  border  from  end  to  end. 

"My  Derry,  my  Derry,  my  little  oak  grove. 
My  dwelling,  my  home  and  my  own  little  cell, 
May  God  the  Eternal  in  Heaven  above 
Send  death  to  thy  foes  and  defend  thee  well. ' ' 


4  6  THE  SAINTS  AND  SCHOLARS 

Columba  was  only  twenty-five  when  he  founded  Derry. 
Within  the  next  seventeen  years  he  established  the  still  more 
celebrated  schools  of  Durrow  in  King's  County  and  Kells  in 
JMeath.  A  description  of  him  at  this  time  is  given  by  an  an- 
<;ient  writer  who  says  he  was  "a  man  well  formed  with  power- 
ful frame;  his  skin  was  white;  his  face  was  broad  and  fair  and 
radiant,  lit  up  with  large,  gray,  luminous  eyes;  his  large  and 
well  shaped  head  was  crowned  with  close  and  curling  hair,  ex- 
cept where  he  wore  his  frontal  tonsure.  His  voice  was  sweet 
with  the  sweetness  of  the  bards,  clear  and  resonant  so  that  he 
could  be  heard  at  1500  paces ' ' — what  would  be  his  record  with 
a  modern  megaphone!  In  temijerament  he  was  quick  and 
passionate.  His  activity  was  wonderful.  ' '  Not  a  single  hour  of 
the  day, ' '  says  Adamnan,  * '  did  he  leave  unoccupied  without  en- 
gaging in  prayer  or  in  reading  or  in  writing  or  in  some  other 
work."  He  took  jDart  in  the  manual  labor  of  the  monastery, 
cooking  or  looking  after  his  ploughmen.  He  was  an  unwearied 
scribe  and  poetry  was  his  delight.  His  followers  were  ever  oc- 
cupied in  transcribing  his  literary  works,  and  we  read  in  his 
Irish  life  that  he  himself  wrote  "three  hundred  gifted,  lasting, 
illuminated,  noble  books." 

Scotland  became  the  home  of  Columba  in  563.  His  motive 
in  leaving  his  native  Ireland  is  given  by  his  ninth  century  suc- 
cessor and  most  noted  biographer,  Adamnan,  as  "the  desire  to 
carry  the  Gospel  to  a  pagan  nation  and  to  win  souls  to  God." 
Other  authorities  enter  into  more  detail  and  declare  with  con- 
siderable probability  that  Columba  was  carrying  out  a  severe 
penance  imposed  on  him  by  his  confessor,  St.  Molaise:  to  leave 
Ireland  and  preach  the  gospel  so  as  to  win  for  Christ  as  many 
souls  as  had  perished  in  the  battle  of  Cooldrevney,  where  Col- 
umba's  clansmen  the  NeilPs,  supported  by  his  prayers  and  in- 
cited by  his  counsels,  had  defeated  the  warriors  of  King  Diar- 
mait  in  the  year  561.  With  twelve  companions  Columba  crossed 
the  sea  in  a  currach  of  wickerwork  covered  with  hides,  and  land- 
ed on  the  barren,  craggy  island  of  lona  on  the  eve  of  Pentecost, 
May  12,  563.  For  the  next  600  years  lona  was  virtually  an  Irish 
island  occupied  by  Irish  monks  and  scholars.  As  soon  as  Co- 
lumba and  his  followers  had  built  their  monastery,  they  went 
forth  to  preach  Christianity  to  the  Northern  Picts.  Many  me- 
morials of  their  saintly  work  are  found  in  Northern  Scotland, 
the  Great  Glen  and  the  country  to  the  eastward  into  Aberdeen- 
shire. Montalembert 's  "Monks  of  the  West"  furnishes  a 
wealth  of  information  on  Columba 's  missionary  work.  His 
feast  is  kept  in  Scotland  on  the  ninth  of  June,  for  Holy  Mother 
Church  observes  the  feast  day  of  a  saint  not  on  the  date  of  his 


REV.  JOHN  J.  KEATING  47 

birth,  which  marks  his  entrance  into  "this  vale  of  tears,"  but 
on  the  date  of  his  death,  which  marks  the  triumphal  ending  of 
his  time  of  probation. 

On  the  eve  of  his  death,  which  occurred  in  597,  he  was  en- 
gaged in  the  work  of  transcription.  Earlier  in  the  day  he  had 
viewed  the  gardens  and  buildings  of  the  monastery  in  com- 
pany with  Diarmait,  his  attendant;  he  had  blessed  the  work  of 
his  followers  for  the  last  time  and  was  returning  from  the  barn 
to  the  monastery  when  he  was  overcome  with  fatigue  and  sat 
down  by  the  roadside  to  rest.  And  the  chronicler  tells  us  that 
"  as  he  sat  there  resting  his  aged  limbs,  the  old  white  horse  that 
used  to  carry  the  milkpails  from  the  byre  to  the  monastery 
came  up  and  put  his  head  on  the  saint's  shoulder  as  if  the  ani- 
mal knew  that  his  master  was  to  leave  him.  The  saint,  deeply 
moved,  blessed  the  poor,  faithful  horse  and  said,  'It  is  God  that 
has  made  known  to  him  through  instinct  that  he  will  see  me  no 
more. '  ' '  Entering  the  cloister  he  went  directly  to  his  cell  and 
sat  there  copying  the  Psaltery.  But  as  soon  as  he  came  to  the 
eleventh  verse  of  the  thirty-third  psalm  in  the  Vulgate,  where 
it  is  written :  ' '  Inquirentes  autem  Dominum  non  deficient  omni 
bono, ' '  he  laid  down  the  pen  and  said,  * '  Here  I  must  stop ;  Boa- 
thin  will  write  the  rest. ' '  At  the  midnight  hour,  when  the  bell 
for  matins  summoned  the  monks  to  chapel,  they  found  their  dy- 
ing abbot  prostrate  in  prayer  before  the  altar;  they  raised  him 
gently,  and  in  a  few  moments  he  expired  in  the  arms  of  his  com- 
panion Diarmait,  breathing  blessings  on  lona  and  his  disciples. 

The  best  history  of  Columba's  life  is  the  Latin  one  written 
by  Adamnan,  his  ninth  successor  in  the  abbacy  of  lona.  "It 
is, ' '  says  Pinkerton, ' '  the  most  complete  piece  of  such  biography 
that  all  Europe  can  boast,  not  only  at  so  early  a  period,  but  even 
through  the  whole  Middle  Ages."  This  admirable  work  has 
been  preserved  to  us  through  the  scholarship  and  research  of 
Stephen  White,  a  learned  Irish  Jesuit  Father  of  the  seventeenth 
century. 

lona  became  a  celebrated  shrine.  Kings  and  princes  come 
hither  on  pilgrimages  as  Columba  has  foretold.  Niall  Frassach 
gave  up  his  crown,  took  the  pilgrim's  staff  and  died  at  lona  in 
778.  Artgal,  son  of  Cathal,  King  of  Connaught,  camo  here  to 
"make  his  soul"  in  791;  and  many  princes  of  the  Picts  and 
Saxons  did  the  same  in  later  years. 

The  spiritual  linage  of  Columba  numbers  one  hundred 
twelve  saints.  Would  that  time  permitted  us  to  enter  into  an 
account  of  some  of  these  great  lives, — the  martyr  St.  Blaith- 
mac,  the  exegesist  Marianus  Scotus,  Flathbhertach  O'Brol- 
chain  of  Derry,  St.  Comgall  of  Bangor,  St.  Columbanus,  St.  Mai- 


48  THE  SAINTS  AND  SCHOLARS 

achy,  and  Dungall,  the  theologian,  astronomer  and  poet,  would 
well  repay  our  study.  From  the  School  of  Cork  we  should  take 
St.  Finbar;  St.  Fintan  and  Aengus  the  Culdee,  from  the  School 
of  Clonenagh;  St.  Kevin  and  St.  Moling  from  Glendalough;  Sts. 
Colman  and  Gerald  from  the  School  of  Mayo ;  St.  Jarlath  from 
Tuam;  St.  Nessan  from  Mungret,  St.  Cronan  from  Koscrea  and 
St.  Coimin  from  the  School  of  Inniscaltra. 

The  Irish  scholars  abroad  in  this  period  would  furnish  an- 
other interesting  and  illuminating  chapter,  from  Virgilius,. 
Archbishop  of  Salzburg,  to  Sedulius  the  theologian  in  Italy. 
For  an  account  of  these,  we  refer  the  student  to  Healy's  valua- 
ble work,  ** Ireland's  Ancient  Schools  and  Scholars." 

It  would  be  unpardonable  to  close  this  sketch  without  sum- 
marizing the  work  of  the  great  Irish  missionaries  of  the  period. 
Their  highest  compliment  and  the  most  unprejudiced  estimate 
of  their  work  comes  from  the  populace  of  those  nations  to  whom 
they  devoted  their  lives.  Let  us  present  it  on  the  authority  of 
the  scholarly  Stephen  White,  S.  J.  *'The  nations  they  con- 
verted, edified  and  civilized  have  placed  upon  the  altars  of  the 
churches  where  they  labored  150  of  these  saints,  of  whom  36 
were  martyrs,  in  Germany;  45,  of  whom  6  were  martyrs,  in 
Gaul ;  30  in  Belgium ;  13  in  Italy ;  8,  all  martyrs,  in  Norway  and 
Iceland ; ' '  and  Montalembert  quotes  an  ancient  writer  enumerat- 
ing the  monasteries  founded  by  Irish  monks  on  foreign  soil  as 
13  in  Scotland,  12  in  England,  7  in  France,  12  in  America,  7  in 
Lorraine,  10  in  Alsatia,  16  in  Bavaria,  15  in  Ehetia,  Helvetia 
and  Allemania; — there  were  many  in  Thuringia  and  the  left 
bank  of  the  lower  Ehine,  and  finally  6  in  Italy. 

For  a  profound  study  of  this  important  period,  scholars 
may  be  referred  to  0 'Curry's  Manuscript  Material  for  Ireland's 
Ancient  History,  La  Revue  Celtique,  and  the  recent  articles  of 
Morris  in  Irish  periodicals;  for  the  general  reader  there  is  a 
long  list  of  interesting  works  to  be  had  in  our  own  excellent 
public  library;  and  for  all  of  us  who  are  proud  of  our  Irish 
blood,  the  i^resent  very  imperfect  survey  will  amply  vindicate 
the  claim  of  Ireland  to  that  title  which  she  received  centuries 
ago  from  the  learned  men  of  the  world:  *' Insula  Sanctorum 
et  Doctorum," — "Island  of  the  Saints  and  Scholars." — The 
Catholic  Messenger,  Worcester,  Mass. 


Thomas  E.  McEvoy,  M.  D. 


Dr.  Thomas  E.  McEvoy  is  a  native  of  Hopkinton, 
Mass.,  and  was  born  July  27,  1859,  son  of  Patrick  Mc- 
Evoy and  Mary  (Daw)  McEvoy.  He  attended  the 
grammar  schools  and  was  prepared  for  college  at  Phil- 
i])s  Exeter  Academy,  from  which  he  was  graduated  in 
1886.  He  entered  Yale  College,  graduating  in  1890, 
and  was  graduated  from  Yale  Medical  School  in  1892. 

Dr.  McEvoy  is  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts 
Medical  Society.  In  1896  he  served  as  a  member  of 
the  School  Committee,  Worcester,  Mass.  He  joined 
Division  1,  A.  0.  H.,  of  Worcester,  in  1896,  and  for 
twelve  years  was  physician  for  the  Division.  June  12, 
1900,  Dr.  McEvoy  was  married  to  Mary  Spencer  0  'Day, 
daughter  of  James  and  Margaret  Spencer  of  Worces- 
ter. 


yC^-</  ^.  M^(t.^  %o 


®I|^  g^truggb  Mitlj  tlj^  ian^s 


800 — 1169 
BY 


THOMAS    E.   McEVOY,   M.    D. 


The  period  of  Irish  History  that  falls  within  the  beginning 
of  the  ninth  and  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century  is,  perhaps, 
the  most  fruitful  for  study  than  that  of  any  other  period  of  the 
annals  of  Ireland.  For,  up  to  this  time,  our  Irish  people  with 
slight  or  no  influence  from  without  met  those  problems,  incident 
to  the  development  of  a  people  from  barbarism  to  a  position  of 
the  most  enlightened  of  the  known  world,  and  solved  those 
problems  in  such  a  manner  as  to  leave  its  impress  upon  the 
character  of  our  people,  which  impress  can  be  discerned  in  our 
time,  though  at  an  interval  of  one  thousand  years. 

Ireland  at  the  beginning  of  the  ninth  century  had  an  es- 
tablished form  of  government,  excelled  in  her  institutions  of 
learning,  eminent  in  art,  law,  illumination  of  manuscripts,  metal 
working,  music,  while  a  most  commendable  attempt  in  a  native 
school  of  architecture,  assiduously  developed  during  this  peri- 
od which  we  are  considering,  to  a  beautiful  promise  is  very  evi- 
dent from  the  few  but  inspiring  examples  of  the  so-called  IRISH 
ROMANESQUE  style  of  architecture.  It  was  during  this  period 
that  Ireland  furnished  that  famous  scholar,  the  most  learned 
man  of  his  time,  John  Scotus  Erigena,  who  is  considered  to 
have  founded  an  Irish  School  of  Philosophy.  It  was  during 
this  period,  furthermore,  that  Ireland's  fame  as  the  land  of 
saints  and  scholars  was  spread  broadcast  through  all  Christen- 
dom. 

What  was  the  rest  of  Europe  occupied  with  at  this  time? 
Charlemagne  had  just  secured  the  Western  Empire  for  himself, 
an  achievement  made  possible  by  Charlemagne's  grandfather, 
Charles  Martel,  with  his  Catholic  Christian  army,  who,  in  732, 
at  Poitiers,  checked  the  hitherto  onward  march  of  Moslemism 


50  THE  STRUGGLE  WITH  THE  DANES 

and  saved  Europe  from  oriental  civilization.  Ever  since  the 
fall  of  Eome,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  fifth  century,  until  the 
commencement  of  the  ninth,  the  continent  of  Europe  knew  no 
uniform  system  of  government  and,  consequently,  disorganiza- 
tion of  society  took  place.  Christianity's  problem  became  not 
to  teach  the  word  of  God  only,  but  it  had  to  teach  husbandr}", 
agriculture,  secular  learning  and  special  sciences,  as  medicine, 
and  to  inspire  the  great  barbarian  host  to  unite  and  to  repel 
Moslemism,  at  the  same  time  to  accept  the  teachings  of  Christ 
as  the  foundation  of  their  social  fabric.  Into  this  work,  with 
exceptionally  well  equij^ped  missionaries,  Ireland  pushed  with 
such  zeal  a.^d  energy  that  it  is  well  within  the  truth  to  main- 
tain that  Ireland's  influence  was  the  breakwater  that  walled 
off  the  threatened  inundation  of  paganism  and  saved  for  Europo 
the  Christian  civilization  which  we  all  now  enjoy. 

Before  leaving  this  cursory  review  of  conditions  in  other 
lands  than  Ireland,  a  word  about  the  neighbor,  England,  across 
the  channel,  may  not  be  out  of  place.  England's  plight  was 
worse  than  that  of  the  continent.  Charlemagne  brought  peace 
to  the  Western  Empire.  The  English  people  and  the  tribes  of 
the  Angles  were  divided  and  warring  among  themselves,  to 
such  an  extent  that  in  vain  did  Alcuin,  the  great  English  monk, 
spread  a  written  appeal  to  the  English  to  make  common  cause 
against  the  pagan  Danish  invaders.  The  Britons  were  shut  up 
in  Cornwall  and  Wales,  while  the  rest  of  England  was  divided 
into  seven  kingdoms,  called  the  Heptarchy.  These  seven  king- 
doms, while  at  war  with  one  another,  suffered  from  internal 
strife,  each  in  its  own  kingdom,  a  hopeless  condition,  until  in 
824,  when  Egbert,  king  of  Wessex,  united  the  seven  kingdoms 
under  his  rule.  During  all  this  bloodshed,  the  Christian  relig- 
ion, through  its  monks,  nobly  struggled  to  introduce  and  make 
permanent  Christian  civilization  among  these  barl^arians,  the 
Angles  and  the  Saxons;  for  the  seven  kingdoms  or  heptarchy 
was  composed  of  tliese  peoples.  Having  some  idea  of  the  an- 
archy, barbarity,  ignorance  and  atrocity  of  these  times  in  the 
countries  other  than  Ireland,  it  will  enable  us  to  understand 
why  Ireland's  condition  is  of  so  great  interest. 

Politically,  Ireland  was  divided  into  five  provinces,  Lein- 
ster,  Munster,  Connaught,  Meath  and  Ulster.  These  provinces 
were  divided  in  turn,  into  tuaths,  or  sections  containing  aliout 
177  square  miles.  In  some  instances,  several  tuaths  would  com- 
bine and  were  known  as  a  mortuath.  The  tuaths,  mortuaths, 
and  provinces  were  ruled  by  petty  kings,  while  the  high  king, 
or  Ard-ri,  ruled  over  all.  The  kings  of  the  provinces  ruled  over 
the  kings  of  the  tuaths  and  mortuaths  in  their  respective  prov- 


THOMAS  E.   McEVOY,  M.   D.  51 

inces.    In  all  Ireland  at  this  period,  there  were  about  184  tuaths. 

The  kings  of  the  provinces  paid  tribute  to  the  Ard-ri  and 
were  obliged  to  give  service  in  time  of  war.  These  kings,  from 
the  Ard-ri  to  the  petty  king,  were  subject  to  law  like  their  own 
subjects.  The  tuaths  and  mortuaths  paid  tribute  and  gave  ser- 
vice in  time  of  war  to  the  provincial  kings.  Thus,  we  see,  that 
the  Ard-ri  was  a  limited  monarch.  Under  this  systematized  gov- 
ernment, Ireland,  throughout  the  centuries  preceding  the  Dan- 
ish invasion,  progressed  in  all  lines  of  industry,  made  constant 
progress  in  the  arts  and  sciences,  and  in  both  civil  and  religious 
life.  In  industry,  Ireland  had  intercourse  with  foreign  nations 
through  commerce  from  the  days  of  Tacitus,  the  first  century 
of  the  Christian  era,  exporting  and  importing  commodities  just 
as  we  do  at  the  present  time.  The  exports  consisted  in  part,  of 
furs,  wool  and  woolen  goods,  linens,  cereals,  fish  and  salted 
hogs.  They  imported,  for  their  own  use,  articles  of  luxury, 
dresses,  gold  and  silver  ornaments,  swords,  shields  and  staves. 
There  were  to  be  found  mills  for  grinding  corn,  persons  occu- 
pied with  carding,  spinning,  weaving  and  dyeing  of  wool,  the 
art  of  embroidery,  leather  tanning,  manuscript  writing,  tilling 
and  pastoral  duties  and  the  casting  and  bronzing  of  metals. 

The  civil  life  is  well  illustrated  by  the  Brelion  laws  admin- 
istered by  the  Brehons,  or  judges,  and  these  laws  regulated  the 
obligations  of  the  free  tiller  of  the  land.  These  laws  take  their 
beginning  before  the  advent  of  Christianity,  their  roots  lying 
deeply  hidden  in  pagan  times.  The  Book  of  Eights  was  pre- 
pared under  the  auspices  of  St.  Patrick,  and  was  considered 
by  all  Erin,  in  due  course  of  time,  as  the  supreme  law  of  the 
land.  The  Book  of  Eights  bore  the  same  relation  to  the  Brehon 
Laws  as  the  United  States  Constitution  and  the  constitutions 
of  the  several  states  bear  to  the  great  body  of  the  law  of  the 
land. 

Chastity  and  modesty  were  highly  prized  among  the  an- 
cient Irish  people  of  this  epoch.  The  husband  and  wife  were 
on  terms  of  equality  in  regard  to  property  and  also  in  a  Brehon 
Court.  AVomen  were  to  be  found  among  the  physicians  and 
judges.    Polygamy  was  very  rare. 

Ireland's  development  of  architecture,  during  this  period, 
took  on  a  most  noble  promise,  and  it  is  well  to  notice  reached 
the  height  of  its  peculiar  Eomanesque  style.  If  we  compare  the 
temple  of  St.  Molaise,  at  Inniscurry,  Sligo,  St.  Finian's  oratory 
at  Innisf alien.  Temple  Senin  of  Aranmoore,  with  Cormac's 
cha]:)el,  on  the  rock  of  Casliel,  the  beautiful  ruin  of  Devenish  Is- 
land, Lough  Erne,  the  truth  of  this  statement  can  easily  be  seen. 
There,  one  can  study  the  development  of  the  so-called  Irish  Eo- 


52  THE   STRUGGLE   WITH   THE    DANES 

manesque  Style  of  Architecture.  Closely  allied  to  this  subject 
is  the  industry  of  stone  carving,  and  masonry;  the  one  seen  in 
Celtic  crosses  still  preserved,  while  the  art  of  masonry  is  well 
exemplified  in  the  existing  round  towers  with  their  conical  tops, 
beautiful  symmetry,  and  wonderful  stability. 

The  wonderful  art  of  illuminating  manuscripts,  in  which 
our  ancestors  were  pre-eminent,  claim  our  admiration  as  works 
of  this  period.  Previous  to  the  eleventh  century,  books  were 
very  prevalent,  a  partial  list  of  which  is  as  follows: — 

Book  of  the  Dun  Cow. 

The  Yellow  Book  of  Slane. 

The  Book  of  Innis. 

The  Book  of  Monasterboice. 

The  Book  of  Flann. 

The  Book  of  Dun  Given. 

The  Book  of  Downpatrick. 

The  Book  of  Derry. 

The  Book  of  Sab-ha  Patrick. 

The  Book  of  8t.  Mologa. 

The  Yellow  Book  of  Mailing. 

The  Yellow  Book  of  MacMurrough. 

The  Yellow  Book  of  Armagh. 

The  Bed  Book  of  MacEgan. 

Long  Book  of  Leinster. 

The  Book  of  Scoba  and  Clonmacnoise. 

The  Book  of  Clonsost. 

In  these  books  are  found  beautiful  specimens  of  illuminat- 
ive art.  This  art  has  been  divided  into  four  groups:  The  Geo- 
metrical Design,  Zoomorphic  Design,  Phyllomorphic  Design, 
Figure  Design.  The  geometrical  ornament  relates  to  the  varie- 
ties of  straight,  curved  and  broken  lines.  The  zoomorphic  de- 
signs are  the  representation  of  animal  life.  The  phyllomorphic 
design  is  illustrative  of  plant  life.  The  figure  design  depicts 
the  human  form. 

Celtic  illuminative  art  is  at  once  the  pride  and  delight  of 
the  student  of  history.  It  ranks  today  as  it  ranked  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  eleventh  century,  as  the  very  highest  type  of  il- 
luminative art  in  the  world.  The  oldest  of  all  these  books,  ac- 
cording to  Joyce,  is  the  book  of  the  Dun  Cow,  transcribed  by 
Mail  Muri  Mac  Kelleher,  who  died  at  Clonmacnoise  in  1106. 
Interlinear  notes  pervade  the  whole  work.  This  book  contains 
134  folio  pages,  a  mere  fragment  of  the  original  work.  Sixty- 
five  pieces  of  various  kinds,  several  of  which  are  imperfect  on 
account  of  missing  leaves,  are  f oi\|id ;  a  copy  of  Amra,  or  elegy 


THOMAS  E.  McEVOY,  M.  D.  53 

on  St.  Columbkille,  composed  by  Dallon  Forguil,  about  592,  and 
an  imperfect  copy  of  the  voyage  of  Mail  Dunne. 

In  our  city  library,  in  the  reference  department,  are  many 
volumes  illustrating  these  beautiful  books,  especially  the  book 
of  Durrow.  The  subject  of  these  books  leads  us  up  to  the  great 
monastic  establishments,  their  cloisters  and  schools.  These  es- 
tablishments were  the  most  renowned,  best  equipped,  just  pre- 
vious to  the  invasion  of  the  Danes,  of  any  in  existence.  The 
schools  of  Bangor,  Clonard,  Clonmacnoise,  St.  Malaise,  St. 
Oobban  and  Glpnfert  are  worthy  examples.  Oswald  and  Alfred, 
kings  of  Northumbria,  England,  and  Dagobert,  king  of  France, 
were  educated  at  some  of  these  noted  institutions,  in  this  man- 
ner demonstrating  the  wide  influence  of  Irish  Culture.  In  aii 
parts  of  the  country,  were  monasteries  with  schools  attached  to 
the  greater  number.  In  these  schools  and  monasteries,  were 
the  libraries  containing  the  books  and  manuscripts.  History 
narrates  that  several  of  these  schools  had  each  a  registration  of 
three  thousand  pupils,  very  many,  from  one  thousand  to  fifteen 
hundred  each,  and  so  on  down  to  St.  Mobi,  with  but  fifty  pupils. 
From  this,  you  can  infer  what  a  large  number  of  books  must 
have  been  written  yearly  to  supply  these  monastic  libraries. 

From  these  schools,  there  went  forth  between  the  eighth 
and  tenth  centuries,  such  missionaries  as  Alcuin,  Clement,  John 
Scotus  Erigena,  Dungal  the  Poet,  theologian  and  astronomer, 
whose  letter  to  the  Emperor  Charlemagne  discloses  his  knowl- 
edge of  the  inclination  of  the  plane  of  the  moon's  orbit  to  the 
plane  of  the  ecliptic,  and  asserted  that  for  an  eclipse  to  occur, 
whether  of  the  sun  or  moon,  it  is  necessary  for  the  moon  to  be 
in  the  plane  of  the  ecliptic.  He  was  a  lecturer  at  the  school  of 
Charlemagne,  and  afterwards  founded  and  became  head  of  the 
school  of  Pavia.  In  825,  an  Irish  scholar,  Dicuil,  wrote  a  com- 
plete geography  of  the  world  so  far  as  it  was  then  known,  and 
this  work  has  recently  been  published  by  the  Royal  Irish  Acad- 
emy. Virgilius,  Bishop  of  Saltzberg,  publicly  taught  the  world 
was  a  sphere  and  that  people  dwelt  at  the  antii3odes.  Angus, 
the  culdee,  the  great  poet,  St.  Malachy,  the  noted  physicians 
O'Callahans  of  Desmond,  O'Briens  of  Thomond,  O'Cassidys  of 
Fermanagh,  O'Lees  of  Connaught,  Kennedys  of  Ormond  and 
the  McNamarahs  of  Clare,  were  of  this  period.  The  reputed 
author  of  the  chronicle  of  the  Scots,  MacLaig,  the  poet  and  close 
friend  of  Brian  Boru,  with  the  co-operation  of  Errard  MacNoise 
compiled  the  chronicle, ' '  The  Wars  of  the  Gael  With  the  Gaul. ' ' 
This  work  contains  121  chapters. 

D 'Alton  writes  that  metal  working  was  an  industry  in  Ire- 
land long  before  Christianitv  was  introduced  and  continued  on 


54  THE    STRUGGLE   WITH    THE    DANES 

down  through  the  centuries  to  the  period  under  consideration 
and  became  so  well  developed  that  the  bell  and  its  shrine,  the 
croziers  beautifully  wrought  swords  and  brooches,  now  extant, 
amjily  testify.  The  chariots  were  ornamented  with  gold  and 
silver  and  fitted  with  iron  tires.  The  arms  for  warfare  and  in 
some  cases,  covers  for  the  books,  were  of  metal,  likewise  chal- 
ices and  crosses.  The  shrines  for  the  books  of  Durrow  and 
Kells  have  been  lost,  but  that  of  St.  Malaise  is  still  preserved 
in  the  Museum  of  Science  and  Art  in  Dublin.  The  bells  made  in 
the  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries,  such  as  the  bell  of  Cumosach, 
were  made  of  caste  bronze.  The  shrines  were  made  of  brass, 
gold,  silver  and  ornamented  with  precious  stones  and  inlaid 
with  fine  threads  of  gold  and  silver.  The  brooch  of  Tara  is  a 
fine  specimen  of  the  brooches,  of  which  there  must  have  been  a 
countless  number,  as  they  were  worn  by  all. 

Ireland  was  well  in  the  forefront  of  Christian  civilization, 
previous  to  the  advent  of  the  Danes,  and  devoted  to  those  arts 
which  shed  an  everlasting  glory  on  our  forbears.  As  for  music, 
the  beautiful  melodies  are  still  preserved  for  us,  together  with 
the  harp,  bag  pipe,  violin  and  trumpet,  while  in  other  lands  were 
to  be  found  teachers  of  music  from  Ireland.  Yet,  through  it  all, 
Ireland  was  continually  torn  with  civil  strife  between  the  pro- 
vincial kings  and  the  petty  kings.  For  instance — in  Munster, 
the  king  of  Desmond  fought  with  the  king  of  Thomond,  and 
the  struggle  was  handed  on  to  their  successors.  One  fruitful 
cause  of  strife  was  the  imposition  of  a  tribute  on  the  conquered, 
putting  the  obligation  to  collect  it  on  the  victor.  A  noted  in- 
stance of  this  custom  is  that  of  the  tribute  imposed  on  Leinster. 
Twice  in  the  eighth  century,  was  Leinster  at  war  with  the  Ard- 
ri  Fergal  and  his  successors  on  account  of  it.  Thus,  the  country 
was  divided  in  sentiment,  though  a  homogeneous  people,  when 
the  foreigner  was  about  to  enter  their  land,  the  first  time  in 
history,  for  the  purpose  of  conquest.  These  foreigners  were  the 
Danes  ,or  Northmen,  whose  home  was  in  the  Scandinavian  Pen- 
insula and  Denmark.  The  coasts  of  France,  Scotland,  England 
and  Ireland  were  the  objective  points  of  their  attacks.  They 
were  pagan  pirates,  whose  sole  object  in  Ireland  at  first  seems 
to  have  been  plunder.  Ireland's  reputation  for  wealth  can  be 
grasped  frotn  the  following  description  taken  from  a  French 
writer  of  the  tenth  century: — 

"That  very  wealthy  country,  in  which  there  were  twelve 
bishoprics  and  a  king,  and  which  had  its  own  language  and 
Latin  Letters." 

On  came  these  iron  clad  robbers  in  the  year  795,  whose 
gods  were  the  gods  of  silver  and  whose  gods  were  the  gods  of 


THOMAS  E.  McEVOY,  M.   D.  55 

gold.  The  island  of  Lambay  was  looted  and  thereupon  followed 
the  plundering  of  Downpatrick,  798,  lona  806,  when  68  monks 
were  put  to  death. 

In  807,  Innismurray  was  sacked.  In  811,  islands  oft"  the 
coast  of  Kerry,  812,  the  county  of  Mayo  was  invaded.  The  coast 
line  from  Wexford  to  Cork  and  Kerry  was  devastated  in  the 
year  822.  The  famous  school  of  Bangor  was  pillaged  in  the 
year  824  and  nine  hundred  of  its  monks  were  killed.  To  show 
that  the  Danes  did  not  tind  everything  easy  for  them,  Egin- 
hard,  the  tuto^*  of  Charlemagne,  who  was  living  at  this  time, 
records,  ''The  fleet  of  the  northmen,  having  invaded  Hibernia, 
the  island  of  the  Scots,  after  a  battle  had  been  fought  with  the 
Scots,  and  after  no  small  number  of  the  Norsemen  had  been 
slain,  they  basely  took  flight  and  returned  home."  Many  sim- 
ilar examples  might  be  quoted.  This  defeat  took  place  near 
Killarney,  in  812.  Armagh,  Louth  and  the  greater  part  of  Ul- 
ster were  ravaged  in  830.  Up  to  this  time,  the  purpose  of  the 
Danes  was  plunder  and  slaughter,  with  no  e^adent  desire  of 
gaining  a  foothold  in  the  country.  Their  method  was  to  enter 
some  exposed  point  with  their  shallow  vessels,  upon  which  they 
made  their  home,  sack  and  ravage  that  section,  quickly  with- 
draw to  their  boats  when  danger  threatened,  sail  away,  only  to 
appear  suddenly  at  some  distant  part  of  the  country  and  repeat 
their  killing  and  robbing"  the  people  who,  usually,  were  wholly 
unjDrepared,  or,  as  in  many  instances,  were  monks  who  offered 
but  a  passive  resistance. 

As  the  voice  of  Alcuin  failed  to  unify  the  inhabitants  of 
England  to  meet  effectively  the  invading  Danes,  so,  likewise,  in 
Ireland,  interprovincial  warfare  rendered  abortive  any  attempt 
to  unite  all  Ireland  to  meet  this  brave,  daring,  cruel  stranger 
from  the  north.  As  an  example  at  this  time,  we  find  the  Danes 
established  at  Limerick  and  on  the  Clare  side  of  the  Shannon 
making  incursions  into  Munster,  while  the  provinces  of  Mun- 
ster,  itself,  Thomond  and  Desmond,  were  at  war  with  one  an- 
other. Again,  the  exaction  from  Leinster  of  the  tribute,  which 
consisted  annually  of  150  cows,  150  sheep,  150  pieces  of  cloth, 
150  caldrons,  150  couples,  male  and  female,  for  servitude,  and 
150  maidens,  one  of  whom  must  be  a  daughter  of  the  king  of 
Leinster,  kept  Leinster  at  war  with  the  Ard-ri.  With  these 
drawbacks,  however,  the  northmen  were  defeated  off  the  coast 
of  Kerry  in  811,  at  Hy  Kinsella  in  827,  again  at  Shanna  Golden 
in  Munster. 

In  832,  the  war  under  the  Dane  Turgesius,  took  on  the  form 
of  conquest.  Turgesius  brought  all  the  Danes  in  Ireland  under 
his  leadership  and  then  conceived  the  idea  of  subduing  the 


56  THE   STRUGGLE   WITH  THE   DANES 

whole  country  and  bringing  it  under  his  rule.  He  first  pushed 
into  the  north  where  he  made  his  headquarters.  In  West  Meatli, 
within  two  miles  of  Castle  Pollard,  still  stands  a  circular  fort 
which  was  once  occupied  as  a  residence  by  Turgesius.  From 
Dundalk  to  Limerick  and  up  the  Shannon,  the  boats  of  Tur- 
gesius swept  sacking  all  Connaught,  the  kingdom  of  Meath,  and 
capturing  Dublin  in  832.  That  he  did  not  succeed  in  his  set  pur- 
pose, is  due  to  the  Ard-ri,  Malachy  the  First,  into  whose  hands 
Tergesius  fell,  and  who  drowned  the  Dane  in  the  river  Shannon 
about  the  year  845. 

During  the  first  century  of  the  Danish  wars,  a  fleet  would 
arrive  from  the  north  at  an  interval  of  about  eight  years.  Ev- 
ery battle  ground  was  a  shamble,  where  lay  the  flower  of  both 
defenders  and  invaders.  Victory  for  the  Danes  meant  transpor- 
tation for  the  young  of  Ireland.  Those  remaining  were  pil- 
laged and  placed  under  tribute,  their  schools,  churches  and  mon- 
asteries sacked.  Every  eight  years  during  this  century  of  wor- 
fare,  the  men  of  Erin  had  to  face  fresh  arrivals  coming  in 
hordes  from  the  northern  seas  in  this  seemingly  endless  strug- 
gle. 

The  churches  and  monasteries,  besides  being  rich  in  their 
own  possessions,  were  used  as  safety  deposits  for  the  people, 
because  these  were  held  as  sacred  precincts.  From  the  death  of 
Tergesius  until  879,  the  Danish  arms  suffered  many  reverses 
and  then  succeeded  an  interval  of  35  years  of  comparative  free- 
dom from  foreign  invasions. 

It  must  be  understood  that  nowhere  in  the  world  was  there 
such  a  thing  as  a  nation  in  the  modern  sense.  The  present  na- 
tions of  the  world  had  not  come  into  being,  and  it  is  not  sur- 
prising to  find  the  idea  of  Ireland  for  her  people  not  even  dawn- 
ing upon  our  forefathers.  And  so,  instead  of  ]n'ofiting  by  ex- 
perience, hopeless  discord  occurred  during  this  respite.  Flann, 
the  son  of  Malachy,  attacked  and  overran  Munster.  Connaught 
was  at  war  with  ^leatli,  and  Ossory  was  at  war  with  the  Diesii. 
In  906,  a  battle  was  fought  between  Cormac,  king  of  Munster, 
and  the  combined  forces  of  Flann  and  the  king  of  Leinster, 
where  Cormac  was  defeated  with  a  loss  of  6000  men.  Thus,  can 
be  appreciated  the  short  sighted  policy  pursued  by  our  ances- 
tors. Fresh  swarms  of  northmen  invaded  Ireland  in  915  under 
Eagnal.  Munster  was  plundered  and  the  fight  unto  death  went 
on  as  before.  Dublin  was  again  captured,  the  Ard-ri  Nial  Glen- 
duff  was  killed  and  the  whole  country,  described  by  Mac  Laig, 
as  follows: — 

"They  killed  the  kings  and  the  chieftans,  the  heirs  to  the 
crown  and  the  royal  princes  of  Erin;  they  killed  the  brave  and 


THOMAS  E.  McEVOY,  M.  D.  57 

i;lie  valiant  and  the  stout  champions  and  soldiers  and  young 
lords;  and  the  greater  part  of  the  heroes  and  warriors  of  the 
Gael;  and  brought  them  under  servitude  and  tribute.  They  re- 
duced them  to  bondage  and  slavery.  Many  were  the  blooming 
women  and  comely  maidens  and  blue  eyed  young  women  and 
well  brought  up  youths  and  valiant  champions  they  carried  in- 
to bondage  over  the  broad  green  sea.  Also,  many  and  frequent 
were  the  bright  and  brilliant  eyes  that  were  suffused  with  tears 
and  dimmed  with  grief  and  despair  at  the  separation  of  son 
from  father,  aijd  daughter  from  mother,  and  brother  from  broth- 
er, and  relatives  from  their  race  and  tribe."  The  leading  men 
of  the  Danes  met  the  same  fate  as  the  leaders  of  their  foe,  and 
it  is  not  an  uncommon  occurrence  to  find  families  for  three  gen- 
erations furnishing  leaders  for  the  invaders  whose  bodies  were 
all  left  on  the  battlefield  of  Erin.  The  son  of  Nial  Glenduff 
fought  the  Danes  for  twenty  years,  obtaining  a  soldier's  death 
at  the  battle  of  Arobe.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Congal- 
acli,  who  fell  fighting  in  956.  Then,  came  a  respite  from  strife 
until  980,  a  period  of  twenty-four  years,  whereupon,  Malachy 
the  Second  became  Ard-ri.  The  Danes,  for  the  first  time,  felt 
the  heavy  hand  of  a  master.  Olaf,  king  of  Dublin,  was  forced 
to  withdraw  to  lona,  where  he  died  a  Christian' s  death,  and  the 
Danes  in  Dublin  were  put  under  tribute.  At  this  time,  Tho- 
mond,  the  north  province  of  Munster,  was  ruled  over  by  Mahon, 
the  son  of  Kennedy,  the  grandson  of  Lorcan.  Mahon  had  a 
younger  brother  named  Brian.  For  a  long  time,  this  province 
had  been  a  prey  for  the  Danes  of  Limerick,  so  much  so  that 
Mahon  proposed  peace  with  the  Danes.  Brian,  the  younger 
brother,  would  not  consent  to  a  treaty  of  peace  with  their  tra- 
ditional enemy,  and,  from  a  small  band  of  fifteen  followers,  be- 
came sufficiently  strong  in  numbers  so  that  he  slowly  but  surely 
overcame  the  Danes  of  Limerick,  and  the  province  of  Thomond 
regained  its  position  of  power  in  Munster.  His  brother,  Mahon, 
was  treacherously  put  to  death  by  one  Donovan,  and  Brian  be- 
came king  of  all  Munster,  in  978,  by  defeating  the  king  of  Des- 
mond. 

Brian  now  made  known  his  determination  to  become  high 
king  of  all  Ireland  by  gradually  extending  his  dominion  until  he 
aroused  the  sus]^icion  of  the  Ard-ri  Malachy  the  Second.  It  was 
not  until  1002  that  Brian  became  Ard-ri,  and  in  1005,  after 
marching  through  Ireland,  disbanded  his  army.  He  immediate- 
ly set  about  repairing  the  damage  to  the  country  of  two  centur- 
ies of  war.  This  was  the  period  of  |)eace  and  plenty,  and  respect 
for  law  and  order  prevailed.  Moore's  poem  entitled,  ''Rich  and 
Eare  Were  the  Gems  She  Wore,"  was  inspired  by  Warner's  de- 


58  THE    STRUGGLE   WITH   THE    DANES 

scription  of  this  period  of  Brian's  reign.  There  was  one  act  of 
Brian  that  sowed  the  seed  for  future  trouble.  He  re-imposed 
the  tribute  on  Leinster,  and  hence  he  is  sometimes  called  ^ '  Brian 
of  the  Tribute,  of  Brian  Boru."  This  drove  Leinster  to  throw 
in  its  lot  with  the  Danes  and  with  whatever  enemies  the  Ard-ri 
had  among  his  own  subjects.  This  action  brought  about  con- 
cord and  harmony  between  Malachy  the  Second  and  Brian. 

In  1014,  clouds  began  to  darken  the  pleasant  prospect  of 
peace,  and  the  great  test  of  strength  occurred  at  Clontarf, 
Leinster,  when  the  Danes  collected  from  Dublin,  Isle  of  Man, 
the  Orkneys,  Norway,  Sweden,  Shetland  Islands,  Northumbria, 
Skye,  Lewis,  Cantire,  and  Cornwall,  threatened  Ireland.  The 
forces  of  Brian  were  strengthened  by  Donal,  Great  Steward  of 
Mar  from  Scotland.  The  Danes  wore  armor,  using  as  weapons 
the  spear,  sword,  shield,  bow  and  arrow  and  the  battle-axe.  The 
Irish  soldier  wore  no  armor.  His  weapons  consisted  of  the 
bow  and  arrow,  long  and  short  spears,  the  mace,  the  battle-axe 
i]]'A  the  shield.  He  was  protected  by  a  leathern  corselet,  leath- 
ern greaves  and  a  leathern  hemlet.  They  did  not  make  use  of 
cavalry.  The  soldier,  at  this  period,  was  the  kern,  or  light 
aiujed  infantry  man.  These  battles  were  hand  to  hand  en^ 
gagements,  frightful  slaughter  resulting  from  the  blows  of  the 
battle-axes.  The  forces  at  Clontarf  were  about  equally  divided, 
twenty  thousand,  or  thereabout,  in  each  army. 

It  may  well  be  said  that  the  great  commander  of  the  fight- 
ing men  of  Erin  at  this  time  spent  his  whole  life  from  the  cradle 
to  the  grave  opposing  the  Dane.  His  father,  Kennedy,  met  his 
death  fighting  the  northmen  in  the  province  of  Thomond  in 
949.  His  grandfather,  Lorcan,  met  a  soldier's  death  in  this 
Danisli  strr^ggle.  His  brother,  Malion,  like  himself,  inherited 
the  piracy  of  the  Danes  on  the  borders  of  his  province,  and  con- 
stant fighting  was  his  portion.  Brian  was  of  the  Dalcassian 
strain,  whose  founder  was  Cormac  Cas,  the  grandson  of  Owen 
More.  Owen  More  was  the  rival  of  Con  of  the  hundred  battles 
in  the  second  century  for  the  position  of  high  king  of  Ireland. 
They  settled  their  dispute  by  dividing  Ireland  into  two  por- 
tions, north  and  south.  The  dividing  line  was  from  Dublin  to 
Galway  Bay.  The  province  of  Thomond  came  to  the  O'Brien's 
by  inheritance. 

The  greatest  representative  of  the  Dalcassian  race  must 
have  realized  very  early  in  his  career  the  great  need  of  the 
time,  namely,  the  concentration  of  the  sovereign  power  in  the 
hands  of  one  person.  This  he  had  accomplished  before  the  men 
of  Erin  met  the  foreigrn  army  on  that  Good  Friday  morning  nine 
hundred  years  ago.    Both  armies  were  drawn  up  facing  one  one 


THOMAS  E.   McEVOY,  M.   D.  53 

another  with  the  width  of  a  four  horse  chariot  between  them. 
The  Daleassians,  under  Murdach,  son  of  Brian,  held  the  centre 
130sition.  Brian's  nephew,  Conaing,  commanded  the  left  wing, 
while  the  men  from  Connaught  held  the  right  wing.  There  are 
several  accounts  of  this  battle,  which  can  be  obtained  at  the  pub- 
lic library.  One  of  these  is  supposed  to  be  Malachy's  account 
of  it.  The  contest  lasted  until  darkness  set  in,  when  the  Danes 
ran  for  their  boats,  whereupon,  the  daughter  of  Brian  is  report- 
ed to  have  said  to  the  Danish  king's  sou,  "It  appears  to  me  that 
the  foreigners  have  gained  their  inheritance."  ''"What  mean- 
est thou.  Oh  woman?"  said  Amlalf 's  son.  "The  foreigners  are 
going  into  the  sea,  their  national  inheritance.  I  wonder  is  it 
heat  that  is  upon  them;  but  they  tarry  not  if  it  is," 

It  is  estimated  that  7000  lives  were  lost  by  the  enemy,  and 
4000  Irish  soldiers,  and  these  the  very  best  in  all  Ireland.  Brian 
was  88  years  of  age,  and,  while  not  taking  an  active  part  in  the 
battle,  he  remained  in  the  rear  of  his  army,  where  he  received 
reports  and  gave  his  orders  during  the  battle.  Brian  met  his 
death  while  at  j^rayer  for  the  success  of  his  army,  at  the  hands 
of  a  retreating  Danish  chieftan.  In  the  hearts  of  the  Irish  peo- 
ple, no  doubt,  Brian  was  first  in  war,  first  in  peace,  and  per- 
haps, first  in  the  hearts  of  his  countr^Tuen.  His  son  and  his 
nephew  were  both  killed  and  Malachy  became  Ard-ri  again, 
high  king  of  all  Ireland.  Brian  Boru's  defeat  of  the  Danes  is  in 
marked  contrast  to  the  success  of  the  Danish  arms  in  England 
and  France.  Three  years  after  the  battle  of  Clontarf,  the  Eng- 
lish people  were  overpowered,  and  Canute,  the  Dane,  became 
King  of  England  in  1017.  In  France,  under  Eollo,  they  ob- 
tained the  province  of  Normandy  in  911.  It  is,  then,  with  all 
honor  to  the  valor  of  our  forefathers,  that  after  two  and  a  half 
centuries  of  fighting,  they  accomplished  what  neither  England 
nor  France  had  been  able  to  do.  The  danger  from  Danish  sub- 
jugation of  Ireland  had  now  passed.  Malachy  died  in  1022, 
his  reign  being  marked  by  constant  war  with  Leinster  and  its 
allies.  The  Danes  in  Ireland  became  incorporated  with  the  Irish 
people,  had  become  Christianized,  devoted  themselves  to  com- 
merce, and  henceforth  are  to  be  considered  as  part  of  the  Irish 
people. 

The  interval  between  the  victory  of  Clontarf  and  the  invas- 
ion of  the  Normans,  D 'Alton  describes  as  a  long  period  of  dis- 
cord. While  the  kings  of  the  various  provinces  were  at  war 
with  one  another,  the  tuaths,  or  petty  kings,  found  sufficient 
cause,  or  liberty,  if  you  will,  to  engage  in  war  between  them- 
selves. Brian's  two  surviving  sons,  Donogh  and  Teige,  fought 
one  another  for  the  kingship  of  Munster.    Teige  met  his  death 


60  THE  STRUGGLE  WITH  THE  DANES 

in  this  quarrel  and  Donogh  became  king  of  Munster  and  tried 
to  become  Ard-ri,  high  king.  In  1023,  he  became  king  of  Meath, 
Bregia,  Leinster,  Ossory  and  Munster.  In  1024,  he  conquered 
Breffni,  Connaught  in  1060.  He  died  at  Rome  in  1064.  The 
:grandson  of  Brian,  Teige,  succeeded  Donogh,  but  remained  a 
provincial  king.  He  died  in  1086.  His  fame,  however,  spread 
to  England.  The  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  of  those  days,  de- 
:scribed  him  as  the  Magnificent  King  of  Ireland.  From  the 
death  of  Malachy  then,  until  the  great  king  of  Connacht,  Roder- 
ic  O'Connor  became  Ard-ri  about  1169,  there  had  been  no  liigli 
king  of  Ireland.  The  period  was  marked  by  continuous  strife, 
no  petty  king  being  powerful  enough  to  succeed  Malachy.  The 
Fourmasters  record,  "That  Ireland  was  a  trembling  sod." 

However,  Ireland  continued  to  send  her  great  teachers  to 
the  continent  of  Europe,  among  whom  might  be  mentioned  Mar- 
ianus  Scotus,  or  IMarion  the  Irishman,  who  established  an  Irish 
Monastery  at  Ratisbon,  from  which  as  a  parent  monastery  were 
formed  monasteries  at  Wurtzburg  1143,  Nurnberg  1140,  Con- 
stanz  1142,  St.  George  in  Vienna  1155,  Eichstadt  1183,  St.  Maria 
in  Vienna  1200. 

The  monasteries  of  Clonmacnoise,  Lismore  and  Derry 
enjoyed  a  moderate  degree  of  prosperity  during  this  stormy 
time.  In  1132,  there  came  into  the  religious  life  of  Ireland 
Malachy  O'Morgair,  known  afterwards  as  Malachy,  Archbishop 
of  Armagh.  Civil  and  religious  life  suffered  a  great  deal  in  its 
contact  of  two  and  a  half  centuries  with  the  Danes.  The  peo- 
])le  lost  regard  for  their  institutions  and  traditions  of  their 
former  greatness  and  in  many  instances  became  despoilers  of 
their  own  schools  and  churches.  In  some  cases,  the  princes  as- 
sumed control  of  large  church  sees,  appropriated  the  revenues 
for  their  own  private  ends,  and  possessed  mistresses  as  well  as 
wives.  The  church  became  so  demoralized  that  D  'Alton,  in  con- 
trasting the  condition  with  its  former  grandeur,  says  that  in 
the  days  of  Columba,  or  Columbkille,  "The  Irish  church  of  that 
day  might  be  likened  to  a  splendid  ship  equal  to  the  most  ardu- 
ous voyage  and  fearing  neither  wind  nor  tide.  In  the  twelfth 
century,  she  had  become  a  battered  hulk  aimlessly  drifting  in 
the  sea."  St.  Malachy  gave  his  life  to  reforming  the  church, 
restoring  to  the  church  the  sees  taken  away,  brought  harmony 
between  the  church  and  the  rest  of  Christendom,  and  finally 
strengthened  and  placed  the  church  in  that  high  position  which 
she  has  ever  since  maintained.  He  became  papal  legate  and  as 
such  traveled  all  over  Ireland,  settling  disputes,  checking  strife, 
introducing  the  Cistercian  order  into  Ireland  and  building  for 
them  a  monastery  at  Mellifont  in  1142.    He  made  two  pilgrim- 


THOMAS  E.  McEVOY,  M.  D.  61 

ages  to  Rome.  In  1152,  Cardinal  Paparo,  special  representative 
of  the  Pope,  was  present  at  the  synod  of  Kells  and  conferred 
four  palliums  on  the  Archbishops  of  Armagh,  Cashel,  Dublin 
and  Tuam,  and  at  this  sjTiod,  thirty-eight  dioceses  were  estab- 
lished. St.  Malachy  died  at  Clairvaux  while  on  a  pilgrimage  to 
Rome.  St.  Bernard,  of  Clairvaux,  a  warm  personal  friend  of  St, 
Malachy,  wrote  a  biography  of  him,  a  copy  of  which  is  in  the 
public  library.  In  this  work  the  description  of  the  church  at 
this  time  in  Ireland  has  been  rather  darkly  drawn.  In  regard 
to  which,  the  late  John  Henry  Newman,  the  Cardinal,  wrote  as 
follows : — 

''We  are  far  indeed  from  taking  to  the  letter  all  that  he 
says  of  the  Irish.  We  believe  that,  as  in  other  passages  of  his 
history,  his  ardent  temper  carried  him  beyond  the  truth.  We 
believe  that  the  statements  contained  in  his  well  known  life  of 
St.  Malachy  are  exaggerations.  Still,  it  must  not  be  forgotten 
that  he  was  a  personal  friend  of  St.  Malachj^,  who  had  visited 
him  at  Clairvaux  on  his  way  to  and  from  Rome,  whither  St. 
Malachy  repaired  expressly  on  the  Ecclesiastical  affairs  of  Ire- 
land." None  the  less,  can  we  get  away  from  the  fact  that  the 
people  became  brutalized  to  a  certain  degree,  and  had  fallen 
away  from  that  steady  progress  so  well  marked  at  the  beginning 
of  the  Danish  invasion.  The  most  marked  effects  during  this 
long  period  were  the  utter  lack  of  a  strong  centralized  govern- 
ment; the  constant  civil  strife  in  the  presence  of  a  powerful 
enemy;  the  custom  of  exacting  tribute  from  one  another's  prov- 
inces; no  sign  of  anything  like  a  national  idea;  failure  to  meet 
the  invaders  on  sea  as  well  as  on  land. 

Brian  Boru,  while  checking  the  Danish  threatened  usurpa- 
tion, in  other  respects  left  affairs  as  he  found  them;  internal 
strife,  pillaging  of  churches,  besides  establishing  the  ]">recedent 
of  seizing  the  sovereign  power  by  force.  Nothing  that  was 
worthy  in  Irish  life,  the  arts,  sciences,  industries,  and  religious 
life,  escaped  the  blighting  effect  of  the  invaders.  All  that  was 
near  and  dear  in  their  social  life  suffered  profound  changes, 
leaving  deep  traces  when  Ireland  was  called  upon  to  face  the 
one  struggle  which  she  is  still  carrying  on  and  which  has  so 
embittered  the  last  seven  centuries  of  Ireland's  history. 

The  record  of  our  forefathers  has  been  preserved  in  an  al- 
most miraculous  manner.  It  is  to  be  found  not  only  in  Ireland 
in  her  relics  and  ruins,  but  also  in  very  many  thousands  of  man- 
uscripts scattered  through  the  libraries  of  the  world.  We  know 
but  a  fragment  of  this  record,  for  manuscripts,  covered  with  the 
dust  of  centuries,  await  the  scholars  to  lay  before  us  their  hid- 
den secrets,  and  silence  the  slander  to  be  found  on  the  page  of 


Hon.  John  H.  S.   Hunt 


John  H.  S.  Hunt  was  born  March  14,  1879,  in  Wor- 
cester, Mass.,  the  son  of  Frederick  P.  Hunt  and  Bridget 
(Cosgrove)  Hunt.  He  studied  in  the  Worcester  public 
schools  and  was  graduated  from  the  Worcester  English 
High  School,  in  1898.  Mr.  Hunt  received  his  legal  edu- 
cation at  the  Boston  University  Law  School  and  was 
admitted  to  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  1904.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  American  Bar  Association  and  of 
the  Massachusetts  State  Bar  Association. 

Mr.  Hunt  represented  the  First  Worcester  District, 
^rhich  comprises  the  larger  part  of  his  native  city,  in 
the  Massachusetts  State  Senate  during  1911  and  1912. 
He  has  been  a  member  of  the  Worcester  Democratic 
City.  Mr.  Hunt  has  held  membership  in  Division  3, 
A.  0.  H.,  of  Worcester,  for  several  years. 


Qlnnt^at  Utth  tl|^  Nnrmana 


1169—1367 
BY 


»  HON.  JOHN  H.  S.  HUNT 


The  arrival  of  the  Normans  in  Ireland  was  the  introduction 
of  the  feudal  system.  A  comparison  of  this  system  and  the  Irish 
tribal  system  will  throw  a  light  on  the  Norman  invasion,  an  in- 
vasion which  never  reached  the  dignity  of  a  conquest,  an  in- 
vasion which  differed  from  the  Norman  conquest  of  England  in 
one  particular  at  least,  in  that  the  invaders  were  assimilated  by 
the  Irish  people  and  in  time  drank  in  some  of  the  aspiration  of 
the  Irish  people,  and  came  under  the  influence  of  its  traditions 
so  that  they  in  turn  fought  for  the  perpetuation  of  Irish  ideals. 
To  understand  the  conflict  between  the  Irish  and  the  Anglo- 
Normans  you  mus-t  search  out  the  differences  between  the  trib- 
al system  as  it  existed  in  Ireland  under  the  Brelion  laws  down 
to  its  subjugation  and  the  feudal  system. 

In  Ireland  land  was  owned  in  common  by  each  clan  or  sept 
of  the  same  name,  and  a  chief  or  leader  (the  toparch)  was  elect- 
ed to  ruie  over  them.  He  alloted  the  land  among  the  different 
families  according  to  the  number  of  children  they  possessed. 
The  state  being  dependent  upon  the  perpetuation  of  the  family 
life,  it  was  recognized  even  then  by  the  Irish  race  that  race 
suicide  was  detrimental  to  the  life  of  the  tribe  and  nation,  and 
so  in  this  manner  they  furnished  an  incentive  for  large  families. 
The  land  was  held  to  be  the  foodstock  of  the  whole  people,  a 
common  heritage  in  which  every  household  had  the  right  of  use 
in  proportion  to  the  number  of  its  inmates.  No  man  could  own 
land  save  the  man  who  cultivated  it,  and  he  only  so  much  as 
his  domestic  responsibility  entitled  him  to.  A  portion  of  the 
land  was  marked  off  as  in  common  for  grazing,  and  another 
portion  with  a  large  house  built  thereon,  for  the  reception  and 
care  of  every  traveler,  where  he  could  be  assured  of  food  and 
shelter.    The  occupants  of  the  land  paid  a  fixed  tax  of  tribute 


64  CONTEST  WITH  THE  NORMANS 

apart  from  service  duty  rendered  the  chief  and  a  share  of  the 
farm  might  be  sublet.  Agriculture  had  always  been  the  pride 
of  the  Irish  people.  It  has  been  the  fashion  to  regard  the  tribal 
system  as  the  mark  of  a  barbarous  people.  This  was  not  true 
of  the  Celtic  people.  Their  idea  of  a  state  or  a  nation  may  have 
been  different  from  that  of  the  mediaeval  world  of  Europe,  but 
it  was  not  uncivilized.  The  law  of  the  people  was  the  law  of 
the  nation.  How  modern  that  sounds.  Yes  the  people  did  rule. 
They  never  lost  their  faith  in  the  law  of  the  people  and  they 
never  exalted  a  central  authority,  for  their  law  did  not  need 
the  sanction  of  a  central  authority.  The  administration  of  the 
law  of  the  land  was  parceled  out  among  different  self-govern- 
ing communities.  All  through  its  history  to  this  time  the  forc- 
es of  union  have  not  been  material  but  spiritual,  and  the  life  of 
the  people  consisted  not  in  its  military  cohesion  but  in  its  joint 
spiritual  inheritance.  Such  an  instinct  of  national  life  does  not 
lose  but  rather  gains  by  comparison  with  the  much  praised 
feudalism  of  the  middle  ages  in  Europe.  It  must  at  least  be 
conceded  that  the  Irish  tribal  scheme  of  government  contained 
as  much  promise  as  the  feudal  scheme  which  became  the  politi- 
cal creed  of  England,  but  never  of  Ireland.  Of  a  different  age 
and  different  conditions,  yet  the  make  up  of  the  political  system 
of  Ireland  bears  a  similarity  to  the  make  up  of  the  United 
States.  Each  tribe,  as  each  state,  was  supreme  within  its  own 
borders,  and  in  those  affairs  of  local  application;  it  elected  its 
own  chief  and  could  depose  him  if  he  acted  against  the  law, 
thus  giving  us  an  early  example  of  the  method  of  impeachment 
and  recall.  The  chief  had  no  power  over  the  soil  save  as  the 
elected  trustee  of  the  people.  The  privileges  of  the  various 
chiefs,  judges,  captains,  historians,  poets,  and  so  on,  were  hand- 
ed down  from  one  generation  to  another. 

The  Ard-ri,  or  high  king,  was  a  representative  of  the 
whole  national  life,  but  his  power  rested  on  the  consent  of  the 
tribes  and  the  people.  He  could  impose  no  new  law;  he  could 
demand  no  service  outside  of  the  law. 

Separate  and  independent  as  the  tribes  were,  yet  all  accept- 
ed the  one  code  which  had  been  fashioned  in  the  course  of  ages^ 
by  the  genius  of  this  great  people.  The  same  law  was  recited  in 
every  tribal  assembly.  The  traditions  and  the  learning  of  the 
nation  were  preserved  by  a  class  of  learned  men;  the  law  was 
expounded  by  schools  of  law.  Learning,  it  can  be  truly  said^ 
was  exalted  by  the  Irish  people,  a  people  who  were  held  to- 
gether loosely  in  a  political  union,  but  who,  as  all  history  has 
shown,  were  bound  hard  and  fast  in  a  spiritual  union.  The 
weak  points  of  such  a  system  are  quite  apparent.    A  country 


HON.  JOHN  H.  3.  HUNT  65 

divided  in  government  in  those  times  was  weakened  for  pur- 
poses of  oifence,  or  for  joint  action  in  military  matters.  Riots 
and  forays  there  were,  among  a  martial  race  and  strong  men  of 
hot  passions,  bnt  this  was  qnite  common,  throughout  the  med- 
iaeval world.  Local  feuds  were  no  greater  in  Ireland  than  ex- 
isted in  England,  even  long  after  the  Norman  Conquest. 

Starting  in  the  latter  part  of  the  twelfth  century,  there 
came  crashing  into  this  country,  the  aggressive  and  highly  or- 
ganized military  force  of  the  Anglo-Normans  bent  on  conquest 
and  spoliation,  and  bent  on  im])osing  the  feudal  system  on  Ire- 
land. It  is  quite  evident  no  two  forms  of  social  life  could  show 
more  contrast  than  the  tribal  and  the  feudal  systems.  The 
Eoman  Empire  engraved  on  the  minds  of  its  subject  races  the 
notion  of  a  state  held  together,  defended,  governed  and  policed 
by  a  central  body  or  ruler.  The  sovereign  was  supreme  in  the 
domain  of  matters  pertaining  to  force  and  the  maintenance  of 
order.  The  essential  life  of  the  nation  and  its  directive  force 
came  m  turn  to  be  expressed  in  the  will  and  power  of  its  ruler. 
The  feudal  system  was  a  complicated  political  and  military  or- 
ganization. In  the  feudal  system  the  land  belonged  not  to  the 
tribe  as  a  whole,  but  to  the  Crown  absolutely.  The  Crown  per- 
mitted certain  individuals  by  virtue  of  a  contract  to  possess 
the  land  in  a  limited  ownership.  The  lord  ruled  his  vassals  by 
virtue  of  his  ownership  of  the  land,  not  as  being  of  their  kin  or 
by  their  election.  The  vassals  had  no  connection  among  them- 
selves, save  the  accident  of  standing  in  the  same  relation  to 
one  lord.  They  held  their  lands,  not  as  their  own,  but  upon  the 
performance  of  military  duties  and  other  specified  duties.  The 
whole  system  formed  a  vast  hierachy  extending  from  the  sov- 
ereign at  its  summit,  to  the  lowest  vassal  at  its  base,  each  oc- 
cupying a  definite  position;  the  system  possessing  qualities  of 
organization  and  compactness  as  a  political  and  military  force 
unknown  to  the  tribal  system. 

This,  then,  was  the  system  launched  by  the  English  kings 
at  the  Irish  people  in  the  latter  part  of  the  twelfth  century. 

ANGLO-NORMAN  INVASION 

Roderic  O'Connor  at  the  beginning  of  this  period  was  rec- 
ognized as  the  high  king  or  Ard-ri  of  all  Ireland.  He  was 
the  last  of  the  long  line  of  Irish  monarchs.  This  king  had  not 
been  distinguished  among  his  fellow  chief  tans  by  virtue  of  his 
courage  or  activity.  .But  in  conmion  with  the  princes  and  lead- 
ers of  those  days  in  all  countries,  he  did  possess  at  times  qual- 
ities so  ferocious  as  to  have  led  him  to  commit  acts  of  great 


66  CONTEST  WITH  THE  NORMANS 

cruelty.  Upon  tins  monarch  devolved  a  tremendous  task  of 
grappling  with  problems,  the  solution  of  which  was  to  have  a 
far-reaching  effect  upon  the  subsequent  history  of  Ireland,  and 
which  was  to  determine  largely  the  happiness  or  sorrow  of  the 
Irish  people.  He  failed.  And  the  history  of  mankind  was  pre- 
sented with  the  spectacle  of  a  nation  arrested  in  the  develop- 
ment of  her  national  genius,  her  national  aspirations;  prevent- 
ed from  bringing  to  fruition  the  great  latent  powers  and  quali- 
ties of  her  civilization.  A  sad  spectacle,  9  piteous  one,  yet  one 
that,  in  the  heart  and  soul  of  the  man  who  has  Irish  blood  in 
his  veins,  arouses,  as  he  traces  the  hideous  events  of  the  suc- 
ceeding centuries,  first,  a  feeling  of  sadness,  then  of  despair, 
and  finally  of  noble  rage,  as  he  sees  a  proud,  learned,  loving 
people  driven  to  the  verge  of  madness  by  wrongs,  prosecu- 
tions and  proscriptions. 

The  reign  of  Roderic  O'Connor  began  in  an  auspicious  way. 
He  governed  with  moderation  and  wisdom.     Shortly  after  he 
became  king  he  convened  a  sjTiod  at  Athboy.in  Meatli,  where 
there  were  gathered  1300  men.     Laws  and  regulations  were 
passed  and  the  policing  of  the  land  was  so  effectively  carried 
out  that  it  might  be  said  of  the  kingdom  that  a  woman  with  a 
new-born  infant  might  travel  over  the  whole  island  from  one 
sea  to  the  other,  without  fear  of  insult.    Mindful  of  the  essen- 
tial part  that  amusements  played  in  the  life  of  a  people^,  the 
king  in  1168  re-established  the  games  at  Tailton,  and  in  1169 
he  founded  a  professor's  chair  at  Armagh.    It  was  during  his 
reign  that  an  event  occurred  that  brought  in  its  train  a  series 
of  events  fatal  to  the  natural  development  of  the  Irish  people. 
Dermot  MacMurrough  was  king  of  Leinster  at  the  time  Roderic 
O'Connor  became  high  king  of  Ireland.    A  description  of  Der- 
mot at  this  time  would  not  be  out  of  place.    He  was  a  tall  man 
and  quite  strongly  built;  a  soldier  whose  valiant  heart  was  in 
the  fray,   held  valiant  among  his  own  nation.     From   often 
shouting  his  battle  cry,  his  voice  had  become  hoarse.    He  was 
a  man  who  liked  better  to  be  feared  by  all  than  loved  by  any. 
One  thing  that  could  be  said  of  him  is  that  he  was  prone  to 
oppress  his  greater  vassals  while  he  raised  to  high  stations 
men  of  lowly  birth.    A  tyrant  to  his  own  subjects  he  was  hated 
by  strangers;  his  hand  was  against  every  man,  and  every  man's 
hand  against  him.     He  had  become  king  of  Leinster  in  1135. 
There  had  always  been  more  or  less  friction  between  him  and 
Tiernan  O'Ruarc,  the  lord  of  Breffney,  in  the  eastern  part  of 
Connaught.     This  hostility  between  the  two  had  been  intensi- 
fied by  the  frequent  collisions  between  their  respective  clans, 
and  finally  an  event  took  place  that  raised  the  feeling  of  animos- 


HON.  JOHN  H.  3.  HUNT  67 

ity  to  its  highest  pitch  and  was  a  potent  factor  in  bringing 
about  a  series  of  events  fatal  to  Ireland. 

It  seems  that  before  her  marriage  to  Prince  O'Ruarc,  the 
fair  Dervorgilla,  the  wife  of  Prince  O'Ruarc,  had  a  sweet  and 
kindly  feeling  for  Prince  Dermot.  By  a  secret  understanding 
between  Dervorgilla  and  Prince  Dermot,  while  Prince  O'Ruarc 
was  away  on  one  of  his  military  expeditions,  the  parties  eloped. 
The  wronged  husband  appealed  to  Tordelvach,  who  was  then 
high  king  of  Ireland.  The  Irish  people  have  always  taken  great 
pride  in  the  purity  of  their  family  relations,  and  this  act  stirred 
the  nation  to  its  depths.  The  king  marched  an  army  the  fol- 
lowing year  into  Leinster  and  recaptured  the  fair  Dervorgilla 
from  her  lover  and  sent  her  to  her  relatives  in  Meath.  She  sub- 
sequently retired  to  a  monastery.  Some  historians  place  this 
event  in  1166,  but  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  affair  happened  in 
1153.  So  long  as  King  Tordelvach  lived,  O'Ruarc  was  sure  of 
a  powerful  friend,  but  at  his  death  and  as  soon  as  O'Lochlin 
succeeded  to  the  headship  of  the  Irish  people,  Dermot 's  for- 
tunes took  a  leap  upward,  and  he  let  no  opportunity  pass  with- 
"out  heaping  some  wrong  or  insult  upon  his  rival. 

However,  as  soon  as  Roderic  O'Connor  became  king  in 
1166  he  extended  his  friendship  to  O'Ruarc.  This  read  the 
downfall  of  Dermot.  Here  was  a  prince  who  had  been  a  founder 
of  religious  houses  and  at  Ferns,  where  he  had  his  own  resi- 
dence, he  had  built  many  large  and  richly  endowed  monaster- 
ies and  abbys;  yet,  because  of  his  cruelty  and  insolence,  his 
munificence  was  forgotten,  and  many  whom  he  had  trodden  on 
in  his  prosperity  now  took  advantage  of  the  turn  of  the  wheel 
of  his  fortune.  He  was  assailed  and  attacked  from  all  quarters. 
Deserted  even  by  his  own  vassals  he  retired  to  Ferns,  there 
practically  with  his  back  to  the  wall,  he  took  the  desperate 
resolution  to  call  to  his  aid  foreigners  to  retrieve  his  fallen  for- 
tune. He  set  fire  to  the  town  of  Ferns,  took  flight  privately, 
and  embarked  for  England. 

He  made  his  way  to  Aquitaine  in  France,  to  obtain  the  as- 
sistance of  Henry  the  Second,  of  England.  He  was  willing  to 
make  any  promise  or  sacrifice  to  secure  his  restoration.  Henry 
the  Second  at  that  time  was  not  ready  to  enter  personally,  but 
the  project  pleased  him.  Here  was  an  opportunity  for  which 
he  had  been  looking  and  waiting.  He  had  for  some  time  looked 
longingly  upon  the  kingdom  of  Ireland,  and  he  did  not  desire 
to  lose  such  an  opportunity  to  invade  Ireland.  He  gave  letters 
to  Dermot  authorizing  him  to  recruit  adventurers  within  his 
jurisdiction.  In  return  for  this  recommendation,  Dermot  swore 
fealty  to  Henry  the  Second. 


68  CONTEST  WITH  THE  NORMANS 

Armed  with  this  letter,  Dermot  fixed  himself  in  Bristol, 
England,  endeavoring  to  raise  recruits.  Here  he  fell  in  with 
Eichard  deClaire,  known  as  * '  Strongbow, "  whose  fortunes  were 
in  a  bad  way,  and  who  was  ripe  to  enter  upon  any  venture 
worth  while  to  mend  his  fortunes.  His  name  and  unquestioned 
abilities  enabled  him  to  gather  round  him  characters  of  like 
daring  and  high  courage.  It  was  finally  agreed  between  the 
contracting  parties,  the  king,  Eichard  and  Dermot,  that,  in  the 
ensuing  Spring,  Eichard  should  lend  his  aid  for  the  recovery  of 
Dermot 's  kingdom,  upon  the  condition  of  obtaining  the  hand 
of  Dermot 's  daughter  and  the  succession  to  Dermot 's  kingdom. 

About  May  1st,  1170,  Eobert  Fitzstevens  landed  near  Wex- 
ford, and  on  the  next  day  Maurice  DePrendergast,  an  independ- 
ent adventurer  with  a  force  of  about  six  hundred  men,  marched 
on  Wexford.  This  town,  after  a  short  resistance,  submitted  to 
Dermot  and  his  allies.  Dermot  granted  the  town  and  the  sur- 
rounding country  to  Fitzstevens  and  Maurice.  He  also  granted 
to  others  land  and  possessions  lying  between  Wexford  and 
Waterford  to  hold  to  them  and  their  heirs  forever.  Now  arises 
a  singular  situation.  Here  was  a  tribal  chief  of  the  Celts  of 
Leinster,  who  under  the  tribal  laws  of  Ireland  had  no  other 
rights  in  the  land  than  those  he  held  by  consent  of  the  people 
who  had  dethroned  him,  conferring  upon  two  Normans  a  town 
and  district  then  occupied  by  a  Danish  population  as  vassals 
to  him  and  his  heirs.  The  attention  of  King  Eoderic  O'Connor 
was  drawn  to  these  movements  of  Dermot  and  his  allies.  He 
called  his  chiefs  together,  and  after  counsel,  resolved  to  make 
war  upon  Dermot.  Dermot,  alarmed,  was  eager  to  make  peace. 
After  a  conference  it  was  agreed  that  Leinster  should  be  left 
under  his  dominion  and  rule,  and  that  he  in  turn  should  submit 
to  Eoderic  as  chief  king,  paying  the  usual  homage  and  service. 
There  was  a  secret  agreement  that  no  more  foreigners  should 
be  brought  over,  and  that  those  in  Ireland  should  be  sent  back. 
That  was  easier  said  than  done.  The  harm  was  done  and  the 
current  of  adventurers  once  set  in  motion  could  not  be  checked. 
Gradually  a  large  force  of  Normans  gathered  in  Ireland.  Wa- 
terford was  captured.  Eichard  deClare  married  Eva,  the  daugh- 
ter of  Dermot.  Here  was  a  situation  now  confronting  the  na- 
tives; a  Norman  lord  claimed  succession  to  the  crown  of  Lein- 
ster, by  a  right  utterly  repugnant  to  all  Celtic  law  and  tradi- 
tion, and  which  could  only  be  established  by  an  enforced  change 
in  the  ideas  and  customs  of  the  natives,  their  subjection  to  the 
condition  of  serfs,  or  their  expulsion  from  the  districts.  As  for 
Dermot,  he  thought  to  use  the  foreigners,  but  as  time  went  on 
he  became  a  mere  puppet  in  their  hands,  and  in  the  expedition 


HON.  JOHN  H.  3.  HUNT  69 

against  Dublin,  which  was  captured  by  a  treacherous  surprise, 
and  other  expeditions,  he  found  himself  merely  accompanying, 
while  his  allies  conducted  the  expeditions. 

The  whole  national  mind  was  alarmed  by  these  events,  and 
the  clergy  gathered  at  Armagh  to  search  into  the  sins  of  their 
people.  As  a  result  of  this  s\Tiod,  it  was  resolved:  "That  it 
appeared  to  the  S^iiod  that  the  Divine  vengeance  had  brought 
upon  them  this  severe  judgment  for  the  sins  of  the  people  and 
especially  for  this,  that  they  had  long  been  wont  to  purchase 
natives  of  England,  as  well  from  traders  as  from  robbers  and 
pirates,  and  to  reduce  them  to  slavery,  and  that  now  they  also, 
by  reciprocal  justice,  were  reduced  to  servitude  by  that  very 
nation.  It  was,  therefore,  publicly  decreed  by  the  afore  men- 
tioned Synod,  and  publicly  proclaimed  by  universal  accord, 
that  all  Englishmen  throughout  the  island,  who  were  in  a  state 
of  bondage,  should  be  restored  to  freedom." 

What  was  the  trouble?  Was  the  possession  of  English 
slaves  the  cause  of  this  paralysis  which  seemed  to  seize  upon  the 
energies  of  the  Irish  people,  making  them  incapable  of  stem- 
ming this  invasion?  Was  it  not  rather  the  absence  of  unity  of 
action,  and  the  ever  active  presence  of  individual  friction,  jeal- 
ousy and  hostility  that  constantly  thwarted  the  attempt  to  or- 
ganize an  efficient  government  along  the  lines  of  their  national 
character,  and  which  paralyzed  their  national  action  and  re- 
duced the  power  of  the  chief  king  to  insignificance.  At  this 
crisis  of  their  faith  and  existence,  the  Celtic  people  did  not 
seem  to  realize  that  the  insubordination  of  the  chiefs,  the  in- 
capacity or  powerlessness  of  their  kings,  their  perpetual  civi' 
wars,  and  their  utter  political  disorganization  were  strong  cases 
which  now  rendered  these  foreigners  so  formidable.  Mark  you, 
it  must  not  be  held  to  their  discredit,  however,  that  because 
by  virtue  of  their  political  structure  they  were  in  those  times 
and  under  those  conditions  unable  to  forge  an  instrument  of 
offence  to  meet  the  trained,  mailed-clad  military  force  of  the 
Anglo-Norman.  No,  as  the  years  rolled  on,  they  were  to  over- 
come and  disintegrate  this  military  organization  and  defeat  it 
in  detail  by  the  all  powerful  weapon  of  assimilation.  It  took 
years,  but  it  succeeded.  Personal  force  and  attraction  more 
than  military  or  political  force  move  the  world.  The  Irish 
used  that  more  persuasive  and  powerful  force. 

In  1170  when  Strongbow  came  and  captured  Waterford, 
matters  were  becoming  more  serious.  The  Ard-ri  immediately 
gathered  a  large  force  and  marched  into  Leinster.  Dermot  and 
his  allies  covered  Dublin  in  a  rapid  march.  He  found  the  citizens 
prepared,  and  so  proposed  a  parley.    Led  by  the  other  patriotic 


70  CONTEST  WITH  THE  NORMANS 

clergy  and  willing  to  avoid  bloodshed,  the  citizens  met  the  lead- 
ers of  the  beseiging  army  in  their  camp.  While  there  deliber- 
ating, a  jDicked  body  of  men  from  the  enemy  issued  forth,  made 
their  way  into  the  city  and  turned  it  over  to  pillage.  By  means 
of  this  treachery,  Strongbow  obtained  a  firm  footing  in  the 
kingdom,  and  this  footing  ever  remained  the  center  of  English 
activity. 

Instead  of  attacking  Strongbow  at  once,  King  Eoderic 
drew  off  his  forces  for  the  purpose  of  supporting  O'Ruarc  in 
his  possession  and  marched  them  into  Meath.  Dermot,  actuat- 
ed by  the  desire  to  further  humiliate  his  old  enemy  O'Ruarc, 
sent  Strongbow  with  a  large  force  into  Meath,  with  the  intention 
of  following  later  with  a  large  force.  The  course  of  these  allies 
was  marked  with  the  destruction  of  churches  and  the  ruthless 
killing  of  the  Irish  people.  The  Irish  King  was  helpless  to 
prevent  the  fiendish  acts  of  the  scourge.  Strongbow 's  progress 
was  a  series  of  successes.  By  this  time  Henry  the  Second  had 
begun  to  grow  jealous  of  the  successes  of  his  vassals  in  Ireland. 
Although  two  of  the  chief  cities  in  Ireland  had  fallen,  the  Irish 
people  had  not  abandoned  the  struggle.  Ulster  and  most  of 
Connaught  remained  within  the  Irish  control,  and  even  in  Mun- 
ster  and  Leinster,  there  was  a  considerable  resistance  to  the 
Anglo-Norman.  In  all  the  battles  with  the  Anglo-Normans,  the 
Irish  warriors,  clad  in  cloth,  armed  with  a  short  sword,  the 
javelin  and  battle  axe,  the  last  of  which  was  a  terrible  weapon 
for  close  fighting,  found  it  a  hard  task  to  oppose  men  clad  in 
steel  armor  from  head  to  foot,  and  armed  with  formidable  wea- 
pons of  office  and  destruction.  But  even  this  handicap  would 
have  been  overcome  had  they  been  united  against  a  common  foe. 

Because  of  the  fears  of  Henry  the  Second,  Strongbow  was 
ordered  to  return  to  England.  Henry,  seeing  the  pos- 
sibility of  a  rich  prize  slipping  from  his  grasp,  collected  a  pow- 
erful fleet  and  army  and  set  sail  from  England  in  October, 
1171.  He  landed  in  Waterford,  toward  the  latter  part  of  Octo- 
ber, where  he  was  received  by  Strongbow,  w^ho  did  homage  as  a 
vassal.  This  was  the  serious  moment  of  the  Irish  life  as  a  na- 
tion. From  this  moment  dates  Ireland's  subjugation.  Had 
these  Norman  invaders  united  with  the  Irish  people  then  as 
they  did  later,  and  repelled  Henry  and  his  forces,  and  kept 
Ireland  for  themselves,  they  would,  in  the  end,  have  become  a 
factor  in  the  uplift  and  growth  of  the  nation,  but  the  landing 
of  Henry  put  an  end  to  such  a  hope.  He  began  immediately  to 
make  a  royal  progress  to  the  partially  subjugated  parts  of 
Munster  and  Leinster.  Many  of  the  princes  gave  Henry  the 
''kiss  of  peace."    In  his  tour  the  king  was  wise  enough  to  ex- 


HON.  JOHN  H.  S.  HUNT  71 

hibit  a  papal  bull,  alleged  to  have  been  given  by  Adrian  the 
Fourth,  who,  by  the  way,  was  the  only  Englishman  ever  elevat- 
ed to  the  head  of  the  Holy  See.  This  bull  ceded  to  the  English 
people  the  kingdom  of  Ireland.  Now,  whether  this  bull  was 
genuine  or  not,  and  there  is  strong  evidence  that  it  was  a  for- 
gery, it  is  amusing  that  it  is  the  only  papal  utterance  for  which 
the  English  people  express  any  gratitude.  This  bull  caused 
some  of  the  clergy  to  take  no  decisive  or  resolute  stand  against 
Henry's  claim.  A  desire  for  peace  and  a  realization  that  Hen- 
ry's claim  implied  a  mere  recognition  of  his  titular  sovereignty 
and  not  in  admission  of  his  claim  to  the  land,  led  them  to  advise 
King  Eoderic  to  sign  a  treaty  with  King  Henry,  which  was 
done. 

Henry  the  Second  was  a  born  politician,  and  while  he  was 
throwing  flattery  around  among  the  clergy  and  talking  about 
the  ten  commandments,  he  had  in  his  train  a  number  of  needy 
and  hungry  barons,  among  whom  he  proceeded  to  parcel  out 
the  entire  island  in  royal  grants. 

He  gave  away  to  DeLacy  the  entire  kingdom  of  Meath, 
comprising  about  800,000  acres.  When  O'Euarc  demanded 
that  he  be  heard,  he  was  invited  to  attend  the  conference, 
where  he  was  murdered  by  a  kinsman  of  DeLacy.  While  princes 
and  clergy  were  waited  on  by  this  king,  who  was  to  bring 
law  and  order  to  this  distracted  country,  there  was  at  least  one 
shining  exception.  The  patriotic  archbishop  of  Dublin,  St. 
Lawrence  0 'Toole,  who  seemed  to  be  alone  in  his  comprehen- 
sion of  what  this  Norman  invasion  meant  to  his  people,  by  his 
advice  and  counsel,  encouraged  King  Eoderic  to  resist.  But  to 
what  avail !  One  man  could  not  make  the  princes  of  the  people 
heal  their  feuds,  but,  had  all  the  prelates  preached  a  war  of 
extermination,  the  people  would  have  forced  their  princes  to 
combine  and  Ireland  would  have  thrown  off  its  yoke.  King 
Eoderick,  despite  his  errors,  yet  merits  honor  for  his  patriotic 
spirit,  for  his  intentions  at  least  were  good. 

Leaving  his  followers  to  seize  on  whatever  portions  of 
Leinster  they  could  hold,  where  their  work  was  to  spread  ruin 
and  dissension  for  centuries,  Henry  returned  to  England.  It 
does  seem  strange  that  a  few  thousand  adventurers  could  ac- 
complish what  they  did.  But  bear  in  mind,  under  the  makeup 
of  the  country  and  the  nature  of  its  social  life,  it  was  the  fash- 
ion of  every  tribe  to  tight  its  own  battles.  When  Eoderic  made 
a  treaty  with  Henry  the  Second  it  was  only  the  Ard-ri  who 
made  the  treaty,  and  when  his  authority  was  threatened  it  was 
the  Ard-ri 's,  and  not  the  authority  of  the  individual  tribes;  for 
what  cared  they?  . 


72  CONTEST  WITH  THE  NORMANS 

Henry  was  no  sooner  out  of  the  country  than  the  barons 
began  to  live  up  to  their  true  character.  Fearless  and  martial 
as  they  were,  yet  they  were  nothing  but  reckless  broilers  and 
spoilers.  In  a  short  time  they  had  the  people  up  in  arms  and 
the  tables  were  turned  on  them.  Strongbow  himself  was  locked 
up  in  Waterford  and  his  co-workers  were  shut  up  in  Dublin, 
Drogheda  and  Wexford,  and  affairs  in  general  began  to  look 
bad.  As  a  result  of  this,  a  commission  was  sent  over  to  Eng- 
land to  investigate,  after  which  an  Irish  delegation  went  to 
London.  A  treaty  was  entered  into  between  King  Eoderic  and 
King  Henry  by  which  the  former  acknowledged  the  sover- 
eignty of  Henry,  and  Roderick  was  recognized  as  high  king 
of  Ireland,  except  those  portions  held  by  the  Normans  under 
Henry. 

This  treaty  was  soon  violated  by  Henry.  A  bitter  and 
fierce  re]»ellion  on  the  part  of  the  Southern  and  Western  Irish 
was  crushed.  Now  occurred  one  of  those  acts  of  an  individual 
which,  at  all  times,  has  aroused  the  indignation  and  condemna- 
tion of  the  Irish  people.  Prince  ^lurrough  O'Connor,  thinking 
his  father  should  be  satisfied  with  the  title  of  high  king,  rose 
in  revolt,  and  endeavored  to  seize  the  crown  of  Connaught; 
but  the  old  king  was  sustained  by  his  people.  Murrough  was 
defeated  and  in  his  bitterness  of  defeat,  he  allied  himself  with 
the  Norman  DeCogan.  King  Roderic,  his  heart  wrung  with 
sorrow  at  the  crime  of  his  son,  and  depressed  and  disgusted 
with  the  hopeless  condition  of  Irish  affairs,  retired  to  the  mon- 
astery in  Galway,  and  there,  after  twelve  years,  he  died  on  the 
29th  day  of  November,  1198,  in  his  82nd  year.  He  was  a  good 
man  and  a  noble  king,  but  the  times  demanded  a  man  of  brain, 
blood  and  iron,  another  Brian  Boru. 

Meanwhile,  every  year  a  fresh  swarm  of  greedy,  land-hun- 
gry adventurers  came  to  Ireland,  carrying  with  them  royal 
patents,  granting  them  large  slices  of  Irish  territory  for  service 
rendered  and  to  be  rendered. 

The  history  of  Ireland  for  the  next  two  centuries  is  in  no 
wise  notable  except  to  show  the  animus  of  the  English  throne 
toward  the  Irish  people.  The  sword  made  good  the  fiction  of 
titles  to  land.  Kings  carved  out  estates  for  their  nobles.  These 
in  turn,  had  to  conquer  the  territories  granted  them,  and  there 
was  to  be  no  trade  with  the  Irish;  no  intercourse,  no  relation- 
ship, no  use  of  their  dress,  speech  or  laws,  no  dealings  save 
those  of  slaughter  and  conquest. 

Wherever  there  was  a  contest  between  native  princes,  the 
fire  was  fed.  Often  the  Norman  would  take  one  side,  and  when 
the  other  was  defeated  would  turn  around  and  overwhelm  the 


HON.  JOHN  H.  S.  HUNT  73 

M"ctor.  It  came  to  pass  that,  in  law,  the  Irish  were  aliens  in 
their  own  land,  and  were  refused  the  protection  of  English  law. 
Shut  out  from  tlie  king's  ])eace  and  court  were  the  people  who 
had  carried  the  light  and  fire  of  a  spiritual  religion  over  Eng- 
land and  Europe,  who  for  four  hundred  years  poured  mission- 
aries through  Europe,  their  monasteries  forming  rest-houses 
for  the  travelers  of  Europe.  This  people  to  which  civilization 
was  indebted,  this  people  whose  monks  taught  the  Picts  to  com- 
pose hymns  in  their  own  tongue,  who  trained  the  first  English 
poets;  this  people  now  saw  a  political  church  bearing  the  sword 
of  the  conquerbr  planted  among  them. 

From  Henry  II  on,  the  purpose  and  aim  of  the  English 
government  was  consistently  the  same.  The  land  of  Ireland  was 
a  King's  land  according  to  English  law,  but  not  in  fact.  So  long 
as  the  Irish  claimed  one  foot,  the  war  must  go  on.  At  no  mo- 
ment was  any  peace  possible  for  the  Irish  except  by  entire  re- 
nunciation of  their  rights  to  the  actual  soil  of  their  country. 
For  the  next  200  years,  the  country  was  shaken  by  civil  wars, 
encouraged  in  a  large  part  by  the  government  officials  who 
represented  the  English  crown.  Every  Irish  chief,  surrounded 
by  dangers,  was  bound  to  turn  his  court  into  a  place  of  arms, 
thronged  by  men  ready  to  meet  any  attack.  No  tribe  dared  to 
disarm,  any  more  than  the  European  countries  of  today. 

But  there  was  a  force  working  to  defeat  the  purpose  of  the 
English  Crown.  This  force  or  power  was  the  great  power  of 
assimilation  of  the  Irish  people.  The  Norman  Colonists  and 
the  English  Colonists,  after  a  little  experience,  found  the  coun- 
ts y  delightful  and  the  people  anything  but  barbarians.  They 
were  attracted  by  the  intelligence  of  its  inhabitants.  They  took 
to  Irish  dress  and  language.  They  recognized  Irish  land  ten- 
ures. They  employed  Irishmen  in  offices  of  trust.  As  the  years 
rolled  on,  "English  born  in  Ireland,"  degenerate  English,  be- 
came as  much  feared  by  the  King  as  the  ' '  mere  Irish. ' ' 

Norman  lords  liacl  married  daughters  of  Irish  chiefs  all 
over  the  country,  and  had  made  treaties  with  every  province. 
Many  settlers  changed  their  names  to  an  Irish  form,  and  tak- 
ing up  the  clan  system  melted  into  the  Irish  population.  Grad- 
ually, Irish  names  entered  into  the  town  houses  of  the  business 
men.  Almost  to  the  gate  of  Dublin,  the  center  of  pure  English 
bigotry,  the  merchants  went  riding  Irish  fashion,  in  Irish  dress, 
and  making  merry  with  their  forbidden  Irish  clients.  So,  what 
has  been  called  the  Anglo-Norman  Conquest  of  Ireland  was  not 
a  conquest.  The  great  strength  that  lay  in  the  spiritual  ideal  of 
the  life  of  the  Irish  peo])le  was  subjecting  the  minds  of  the  in- 
vaders.   So  long  as  the  Irish  language  preserved  to  the  people 


74  CONTEST  WITH  THE  NORMANS 

their  own  culture,  they  never  failed  to  absorb  into  their  life 
every  people  that  came  among  them.  The  fusing  of  the  Irish 
and  the  Normans  brought  about  and  added  impetus  in  Irish 
trade  and  commerce.  Together  they  took  a  prominent  part  in 
the  commerce  that  was  broadening  over  the  world.  Besides  ex- 
porting law  materials,  Irish  made  linen  and  cloth  and  cloaks 
and  leather,  were  carried  as  far  as  Russia  and  Naples.  Norman 
lords  and  Irish  chieftans  took  in  exchange,  velvets,  silks  and 
satins,  cloth  of  gold  and  embroidery.  Irish  goldsmiths  made 
the  rich  vessels  that  adorn  the  tables  of  both  Normans  and  of 
Irish, 

While  the  relations  between  the  Irish  and  the  invading 
Normans  were  becoming  closer,  the  attitude  of  the  English 
government  became  more  cruel  and  unjust  toward  the  Irish 
people.  It  had  taken  legal  possession  of  the  land,  but  it  found 
Irish  hands  and  Irish  battle  blades  in  the  way,  preventing  the 
delivery  of  that  property.  In  order  to  get  possession,  the  Eng- 
lish government  had  to  root  out  the  Celtic  race.  It  passed  leg- 
islation prohibiting  the  marriage  of  English  and  Irish.  If  an 
Englishman  was  put  in  possession  of  land,  he  had  the  right  to 
trespass  upon  his  Irish  neighbors.  They  passed  a  law  declaring 
that  the  killing  of  an  Irishman  was  no  felony.  Some  specific 
instances  on  record  will  point  out  clearly  the  attitude  of  the 
English  law  towards  the  Irish  people.  At  the  assizes  at  Water- 
ford  in  the  29th  year  of  Edward  the  first,  a  certain  Thomas 
Butler  brought  an  action  against  Robert  de  Alwain  to  recover 
goods  that  Robert  had  stolen  from  him.  It  was  admitted  that 
he  was  a  thief.  The  defense  put  in  was  that  Butler  was  an 
Irishman.  The  issue  was  submitted  to  the  jury  as  to  whether 
Thomas  was  an  Irishman  or  an  Englishman.  The  jury  found 
that  Thomas  was  an  Englishman,  and  so  Robert,  the  thief,  was 
obliged  to  return  the  goods.  Another  case  happened  in  Water- 
ford.  A  man  named  Robert  Welch  killed  an  Irishman,  John 
McGilmore.  He  was  tried  for  manslaughter.  Welch  admitted 
that  he  committed  the  act,  saying,  "Yes,  I  did  kill  him;  you 
cannot  try  me  for  it,  however,  as  he  was  only  an  Irishman." 
Instantly  he  was  led  out  of  the  dock,  on  condition — since  the 
dead  Irishman  had  at  the  time  of  his  death  been  in  the  employ 
of  an  English  master — he  should  pay  whatever  he  compelled 
him  to  pay  for  the  loss  of  his  services,  and  the  confessed  mur- 
derer might  go  free.  The  Irish  were  forbidden  to  buy  land.  If 
an  Irishman  made  a  will  and  left  an  acre  of  land  to  an  Irishman, 
the  moment  it  was  proved  he  was  an  Irishman,  the  property 
was  forfeited  to  the  Crown  of  England.  At  one  time,  a  Mrs. 
Catherine  Dowdoll  made  a  will  and  left  some  land  for  charita- 


HON.  JOHN  H.  S.  HUNT  75 

ble  purposes  to  her  chaplain,  and  the  land  was  forfeited  because 
the  priest  was  an  Irishman.  Further  to  keep  the  English  in  an 
atmosphere  where  they  would  not  become  affected  by  Irish 
charm,  it  was  necessary  to  fence  them  up.  A  part  of  the  land 
around  Dublin  consisting  of  one-half  the  counties  of  Dublin, 
Kildare,  Meath,  Louth,  were  set  apart  and  all  within  that 
charmed  place  was  called  the  "pale."  Within  this  fence,  no 
Irishman  was  allowed  to  enter;  if  found  there  he  was  killed, 
and  a  reward  was  offered  for  killing  him.  Now  the  culmina- 
tion of  all  thes^  restrictive  measures  came  in  1367  when  the  in- 
famous and  foolish  statute  of  Kilkenny  was  passed.  This  stat- 
ute was  directed  against  those  English  and  Anglo-Normans  who 
had  adopted  the  laws  and  the  costume  of  the  natives,  and  it  is 
.saturated  with  that  penal  spirit  that  has  infected  for  centuries 
the  legislation  of  the  English.  This  statute  provides  that  inter- 
marriages with  natives,  or  any  connection  with  them  in  the  way 
of  fostering  should  be  considered  and  punished  as  high  treason. 
Fostering  was  something  that  rankled  in  the  minds  of  the  Eng- 
lish as  it  tended  to  produce  strong  ties  and  relationship  between 
the  Irish  and  the  English, 

It  further  stated  that  any  man  of  English  race,  assuming 
an  Irish  name,  or  using  the  Irish  language,  apparel,  or  customs, 
should  forfeit  all  his  lands  and  tenements;  that  to  adopt  or  sub- 
mit to  the  Brehon  or  Irish  law  was  treason;  that  without  per- 
mission of  the  government  the  English  should  not  make  war 
upon  the  natives.  But  of  what  avail  were  their  statutes  and 
their  laws!  The  trend  of  events  was  too  strong;  again  were  the 
Celts  the  conquerors.  For  three  hundred  years  they  had 
fought  Danes,  they  who  had  been  unconquerable  in  every  land 
they  had  invaded,  fought  them  and  disputed  with  them  every 
inch  of  their  land,  filled  every  valley  in  the  land  with  their  dead 
bodies,  and  in  the  end  drove  them  back  into  the  sea  and  wrest- 
td  their  land  from  the  dominion  of  the  Danes.  Now,  confronted 
by  a  force  with  a  vastly  superior  military  and  political  organ- 
ization, the}'  had  exposed  courageous  bodies  and  dauntless 
hearts  as  a  bulwark  for  the  preservation  of  their  land,  their 
traditions  and  their  patronomy,  and  by  the  nobleness  of  their 
character,  by  the  lofty  grandeur  of  their  ideals,  by  the  woman- 
liness of  their  women,  tliey  at  first  attacked  and  then  conquered 
the  hearts  and  the  affections  of  the  martial  and  fearless  Nor- 
mans who,  intended  as  a  weapon  for  the  destruction  of  the  Irish 
race,  became  a  part  of  the  very  woof  and  fibre  of  the  Irish  peo- 
ple. 

Truly  the  God  who  watches  over  the  destiny  of  nations, 
the  God  of  St.  Patrick,  Columbkille  and  Columbas,  was  mindful 


76  CONTEST  WITH  THE  NORMANS 

of  the  great  service  rendered  humanity  and  in  his  honor  and 
glorj^  by  the  Irish  people.  He  moves  in  mysterious  ways  his 
wonders  to  perform.  Wonderful  indeed  is  the  story  writ  large 
across  the  pages  of  the  Irish  nation.  In  tracing  the  rise  and 
fall  of  the  various  nations  of  earth,  the  rise  to  splendor  of  the 
Gregian  cities,  the  majestic  march  of  Rome  and  her  various 
institutions,  while  we  view  them  with  admiration,  yet  when  we 
contemplate  this  little  nation,  handicapped  by  an  imperfect  po- 
litical equipment,  giving  to  the  world  the  finest  example  of  a 
spiritual  union  that  has  annihilated  time  and  space,  that  has 
drawn  within  its  exalting  influence  men  who  have  responded  to 
the  call  of  the  blood;  overcoming  measures  and  methods  that 
have  reduced  other  people  to  the  condition  of  serfs  and  slaves, 
this  mighty  spirit  of  the  Irish  race  has  breathed  over  many 
nations  of  the  earth,  and  in  its  sons  and  daughters  has  been  a 
valiant  sword  for  the  right  and  a  fortress  of  rest  in  times  of 
spiritual  doubt  and  unrest,  fulfilling  even  to  the  present  day,  the 
mission  for  which  God  intended  her,  a  spiritual  leaven  for  the 
human  race. 


Thomas  H.  Sullivan 


Thomas  H.  Sullivan  was  born  November  12,  1868, 
in  Millbnry,  Mass.,  son  of  Jeremiah  T.  Sullivan  and 
Johanna  (Horgan)  Sullivan.  He  was  educated  in  the 
Millbury  High  School,  Holy  Cross  College,  and  Boston 
University  Law  School.  He  was  graduated  from  Holy 
Cross  in  1891  and  was  a  Commencement  speaker.  He 
received  the  honor  "Magna  Cum  Laude"  at  Boston 
iTniversity  Law  School.  April  18,  1910,  Mr.  Sullivan 
married  Mary  A.  Barrett,  daughter  of  Thomas  Barrett, 
of  Worcester,  Mass. 

Mr.  Sullivan  was  the  Democratic  candidate  for 
District  Attorney  for  the  Middle  District  of  Massachu- 
j'etts,  which  includes  Worcester  County,  in  1910  and 
1913,  and  reduced  the  normal  Eepublican  majority  of 
about  14,000  to  3,000  in  1910  and  to  700  in  1913.  Mem- 
ber of  the  School  Committee  in  Millbury  for  sixteen 
years,  and  chairman  for  ten  years. 

Mr.  Sullivan  is  a  member  of  Division  9,  A.  0.  H., 
of  Millbury,  and  was  president  for  two  years.  Has 
served  as  Chairman  of  the  Massachusetts  Committee  of 
the  A.  0.  H.  on  Irish  History,  and  is  president  of  the 
Past  Presidents '  Organization  of  the  Worcester  Coimty 
A.  0.  H. 


^■^^rfC^jg*^ 


®1)?  iFtgljt  Itttn  i^atlf 


1367—1607 
BY 


THOMAS  H.  SULLIVAN 


The  subject  which  has  been  allotted  to  me  for  this  evening's 
lecture  seems  at  once  easy  and  hard.  It  is  easy  because  nothing 
ought  to  be  more  agreeable  to  the  son  of  Irish  parents  than  to 
speak  of  his  ancient  race  when  he  is  assured  that  his  hearers 
are  ever  anxious  to  listen  to  the  recital  of  the  glorious  deeds 
of  bravery  accredited  to  an  illustrious  people  of  which  they  are 
descendants. 

It  is  hard  because  it  has  been  treated  so  often  and  by  men 
of  such  brilliant  parts  that  any  attempt  on  the  part  of  the 
speaker  will  fall  far  short  of  the  high  ideals  and  memorable 
speeches  which  have  placed  Irish  eloquence  in  the  enviable  po- 
sition of  being  unsurpassed. 

No  tongue  can  tell  nor  mind  picture  the  brilliancy  ^  of  the 
achievement  of  the  noble  sons  of  Erin,  who,  generation  after 
generation,  stood  firm  against  alluring  promises  of  bribery  and 
advancement  if  they  would  betray  their  countrjinen  and  re- 
ligion. They  endured  privations  too  cruel  to  enumerate,  the  ty- 
rant's dungeons  and  the  enemy's  steel  that  their  country  might 
be  free  that  they  might  worship  God.  according  to  the  dictates 
of  their  conscience. 

The  period  assigned  for  tonight  is  from  1367  to  1607  and 
includes  the  reigns  of  the  following  English  monarchs:  Ed- 
ward III,  Richard  II,  Henrys  IV,V,VI,  Edward  IV,  Richard 
III,  Henrys  VII,  VIII,  Edward  VI,  Mary,  Elizabeth  and  the 
beginning  of  that  of  James  I. 

The  last  lecture  brought  us  to  the  time  of  the  enactment  of 
the  Statute  of  Kilkenny  which  re-enacted  the  prohibition  of 
marriage  and  foster-nursing,  rendered  obligatory  the  adoption 
of  the  English  language  and  customs,   forbade  the  national 


78  THE    FIGHT    UNTO    DEATH 

games  of  ' '  Imrlings  and  quoitings, ' '  and  the  use  of  the  ancient 
Gaelic  code;  a  code  by  which  the  native  brehons  or  judges,  of 
the  Irish  septs  had  decided  causes  among  them  since  the  time 
of  the  conversion  of  the  race  to  Christianity  in  the  fifth  century. 
It  may  assist  us  at  the  outset  if  we  go  back  in  our  minds'  eye 
and  view  Ireland  is  it  was  at  the  beginning  of  the  period. 

Without  going  into  detail  as  to  the  names  of  the  chiefs  and 
the  localities  over  which  they  held  sway,  it  will  answer  our  pur- 
pose to  state  that  at  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century  Ire- 
land was  divided  into  two  districts- — one  known  as  the  English 
Pale,  which  comprised  the  four  shires,  as  they  were  called,  of 
Dublin,  Kildare,  Meath  and  Louth — which  was  a  narrow  strip 
some  fifty  miles  long  and  twenty  miles  broad;  this  was  the  only 
part  that  was  in  any  sense  English — the  other,  the  rest  of  the 
island,  was  parcelled  among  about  sixty  independent  chiefs, 
who  acknowledged  no  sovereignty  but  that  of  strength ;  beyond 
the  borders  of  the  Pale  the  common  law  of  England  was  of  no 
authority  and  the  King's  writ  was  but  a  strip  of  parchment. 

Under  these  conditions  it  is  evident  that  unrest  and  upris- 
ings were  the  natural  order  and  of  frequent  occurrence.  While 
the  various  chiefs  fought  among  themselves  they  often  united 
against  the  ursupation  of  their  rights  by  their  common  enemy 
of  English  government. 

Parliament  enacted  laws;  the  chiefs  and  their  peoples  re- 
fused to  recognize  the  authority  and  resisted  the  execution  of 
these  laws  by  force.  Hence,  during  this  period  there  were 
many  clashes  of  arms  and  many  persecutions,  under  the 
pretense  of  due  process  of  law,  where  death  and  plunder  re- 
sulted. 

Time  will  permit  but  a  cursory  glance  of  some  of  the  im- 
portant events  that  history  has  recorded.  Art  MacMurrogh 
Kavanagh  was  born  A.  D.  1377  and  died  A.  D.  1417.  He  was 
King  of  Leinster  while  Richard  II  and  Henry  IV  and  Henry  V 
sat  on  the  English  throne.  When  eighteen  years  of  age  he  was 
elected  King;  he  married  the  daughter  of  Maurice  Fitzgerald, 
fourth  earl  of  Kildare,  and  by  this  marriage  violated  the  Stat- 
ute of  Kilkenny.  On  this  account  shortly  after  the  accession  of 
Eichards,  the  black  rents  were  stopped  and  the  English  author- 
ities seized  his  wife's  estates.  Art  MacMurrogh  resented  this 
and  at  once  set  about  devastating  and  burning  many  districts 
of  Leinster.  Things  were  going  from  bad  to  worse  in  Ireland:  at 
length  King  Eichard  resolved  to  visit  Ireland  in  person  and 
bring  with  him  an  army  that  would  strike  terror  into  the  Irish 
outlaws  and  compel  obedience  to  his  laws  by  force.  He  landed 
at  Waterford  in  the  fall  of  1394  with  an  armv  of  34,000  men. 


THOMAS  H,  SULLIVAN  79 

MacMiirrogh  at  once  attacked  and  sacked  New  Eoss,  an  English 
settlement,  and  retreated  to  a  place  of  safety.  King  Richard 
marched  to  Dublin,  but  was  harassed  and  attacked  all  along  the 
line,  and  lost  great  numbers  of  his  men.  MacMurrogh  well 
knew  guerilla  warfare  and  with  a  handful  of  men  played  havoc 
with  a  greatly  superior  force.  The  Irish  chief  knew,  however, 
that  he  could  not  resist  successfully  the  King's  great  army.  He 
made  terms  with  the  King,  and  with  all  the  chiefs  came  for- 
ward and  submitted.  Eichard  was  glad  to  end  the  struggle  and 
invited  the  chiefs  to  Dublin,  where  he  banquetted  them  and 
knighted  four »privincial  Kings:  O'Neill  of  Ulster,  O'Connor 
of  Connaught,  MacMurrogh  of  Leinster,  and  O'Brien  of  Tho- 
mond. 

Eichard 's  expedition  was  an  expensive  failure,  for  he  left 
conditions  in  no  wise  improved  when  he  embarked  for  England. 
He  left  Eoger  Mortimer  heir  to  the  English  throne  as  his  deputy 
in  Ireland. 

No  sooner  had  Eichard  sailed  than  the  Irish  chiefs  at  once 
proclaimed  that  their  submission  was  a  sham,  that  the  King  had 
no  right  to  demand  it,  and  that  it  was  might,  not  right,  that 
compelled  them  to  acquiesce.  The  fighting  was  renewed  at 
Kells  in  Kilkenny;  the  English  were  routed,  Mortimer  was 
slain  and  again  MacMurrogh  was  supreme. 

When  the  King  heard  of  the  calamity  that  had  befallen  his 
cousin  he  was  enraged  at  MacMurrogh  and  resolved  at  once  to 
set  out  again  for  Ireland  to  avenge  Mortimer's  death  and  to 
overpower  and  humiliate  the  great  Irish  chief.  A  second  time 
he  landed  at  Waterford  with  an  army  as  numerous  as  the  pre- 
vious one.  This  time  he  determined  to  attack  MacMurrogh 
without  delay;  but  again  unforeseen  obstacles  beset  him.  Bogs, 
forests,  fallen  trees,  hidden  gullies  and  quagmires  in  turn  de- 
layed his  march.  MacMurrogh  retreated  skilfully,  leaving  ev- 
erything barren  for  the  King's  foraging  parties.  Bad  weather, 
lack  of  supplies,  and  repeated  reverses  compelled  Eichard  to 
make  forced  marches  to  the  Wicklow  coast,  where  three  vessels 
laden  with  supplies  awaited  him.  All  along  the  line  of  march 
MacMurrogh  would  dart  in  upon  them,  slaughter  the  King's 
men,  taken  unawares,  and  then  before  reinforcements  arrived 
disappear  as  if  by  magic  to  his  retreats  in  the  mountains  where 
nature  protected  him  from  the  overwhelming  forces  of  the  ene- 
my. MacMurrogh  then  resolved  to  artifice  and  sent  a  messenger 
to  the  King  with  word  that  he  would  agree  to  meet  and  arrange 
for  the  future  peace  of  his  country.  Eichard  was  pleased  and 
at  once  sent  the  Earl  of  Gloucester  to  treat  with  MacMurrogh. 
They  met.    MacMurrogh  and  the  Earl  ''exchanged  much  dis- 


80  THE  FIGHT  UNTO   DEATH 

course ' '  but  did  not  come  to  an  agreement.    MacMurrogh  would 
only  agree  to  "i^eace  without  reserve." 

The  news  aroused  the  King's  anger;  in  a  rage  he  offered  a 
large  reward  for  MacMurrogh  "dead  or  alive','  and  swore  that 
he  would  never  cease  in  his  warfare  till  he  had  Art  in  his  pow- 
er. Little  did  he  dream  that  he  was  looking  upon  Ireland  for 
the  last  time.  When  he  returned  to  England  he  was  stripped 
of  all  authority.  His  expeditions  in  Ireland  had  cost  him  his 
throne  and  eventually  his  life,  MacMurrogh  continued  in  his 
victorious  course  and  afterwards  crossed  the  plain  which  lies 
to  the  north  of  Dublin  and  encamped  where  Eoderic,  when  he 
besieged  the  city,  and  Brian  before  the  battle  of  Clontarf,  had 
pitched  their  tents  of  old.  On  this  historic  spot  the  Irish  chief 
routed  the  English  of  the  Pale  in  his  last  great  battle.  From  the 
age  of  sixteen  to  his  death,  forty-four  years,  he  resisted  success- 
fully all  attacks  from  foreign  foes.  Of  him  Dr.  Joyce  says,  ^'He 
was  the  most  heroic  and  persevering  defender  of  his  country 
from  Brian  Boru  to  Hugh  O'Neill;  and  he  maintained  his  in- 
dependence for  nearly  half  a  century  just  beside  the  Pale,  in 
spite  of  every  effort  to  reduce  him  to  submission." 

Bagwell  says:  ''Art  MacMurrogh,  the  great  hero  of  the 
Leinster  Celts,  practically  had  the  best  of  the  contest. ' '  What 
hardships,  privations  and  feats  of  arms  could  not  effect,  treach- 
ery accomplished.  It  is  recorded  that  he  died  of  poison  at  the 
age  of  sixty  years. 

From  the  death  of  Art  MacMurrogh  in  1417  to  the  rebel- 
lion of  Silken,  Thomas,  there  was  a  lull  in  warfare.  The  Irish 
chiefs  and  even  the  ennobled  Butlers  and  Fitzgeralds  used  the 
Irish  language,  dress  and  customs;  Anglo-Irish  lords  were 
as  turbulent  as  the  worst  native  chiefs.  The  Statute  of  Kilken- 
ny became  a  dead  letter.  Barriers  of  race  could  not  be  main- 
tained and  intermarrying  of  Irish  and  Anglo-Irish  went  on. 
The  long  war  with  France,  followed  by  the  War  of  the  Roses, 
diverted  the  attention  of  England  from  Irish  affairs;  and  the 
Viceroy,  feebly  supported  from  England,  was  too  weak  to  chas- 
tise these  powerful  lords  or  put  penal  laws  in  force.  The  hos- 
tility of  the  native  chiefs  was  bought  off  by  the  payment  of 
''black  rents."  The  loyal  colonists  in  the  "Pale"  shivered  be- 
hind this  encircling  rampart,  and  when  the  sixteenth  century 
dawned,  the  English  power  in  Ireland  had  almost  disappeared. 

The  Irish  Parliament  was  independent,  yet  its  laws  were 
totally  disregarded  by  all  outside  the  "Pale."  It  passed  acts 
ordaining  that  every  Irishman  dwelling  within  the  "Pale"  was 
to  dress  and  shave  like  the  English  and  to  take  an  English  sur- 
name— ^from  some  town,  as  Trim,  Sutton,  Cork;  or  of  some 


THOMAS  H.  SULLIVAN  81 

color,  as  Black,  Brown;  or  of  some  calling,  as  Smith,  Carpenter, 
etc. — on  pain  of  forfeiture  of  his  goods.  Another  mischievous 
measure  forbade  ships  from  fishing  in  the  sea  of  the  Irish  coun- 
ties outside  the  ''Pale;"  another  made  it  lawful  to  decapitate 
thieves  found  robbing  or  ''going  or  coming  anywhere,"  unless 
they  had  Englishmen  in  their  company.  The  legislators  were 
attempting  to  discourage  marauders,  but  they  opened  the  way 
for  malicious  persons  to  kill  an  enemy  and  go  unpunished  by 
setting  up  the  defense  that  the  deceased  was  caught  thieving. 

During  this  state  of  affairs,  the  King  sent  to  Ireland  as  his 
Lord  Deputy,, Sir  Edward  Poynings.  After  some  military  oper- 
ations which  he  found  to  be  beset  with  treachery  and  difficul- 
ties— the  new  lord  deputy  held  a  parliament  at  Drogheda.  This 
was  perhaps  the  most  memorable  that  was  ever  held  in  Ireland, 
as  certainly  no  other  Parliament  in  that  country  made  laws 
which  endured  so  long  as  the  two  which  were  enacted  and  were 
known  for  centuries  afterwards  as  the  Poynings  Acts.  By  the 
first  of  these  it  was  ordained  that  no  Parliament  should  be  held 
in  Ireland  in  future,  until  the  King  and  Council  in  England  had 
approved  not  only  of  its  being  summoned,  but  also  of  the  acts 
which  the  Lieutenant  and  Council  of  Ireland  purposed  to  pass. 
By  the  second,  the  laws  enacted  before  that  time  in  England 
were  extended  to  Ireland  also.  Thus  the  Irish  Legislature  was 
made  entirely  dependent  upon  England.  The  Irish  Parliament 
had  no  power  to  originate  anything,  but  was  only  free  to  accept 
or  (if  they  were  very  bold)  to  reject  measures  drawn  up  by 
Irish  Council  and  approved  already  by  the  King  and  his  Coun- 
cil in  England  before  they  were  submitted  to  discussion.  Such 
was  the  state  of  subjection  in  which  the  Irish  Parliament  re- 
mained by  virtue  of  these  laws  for  nearly  three  centuries  later. 
The  general  purposes  of  the  Poynings  legislature  was  to  in- 
crease the  power  of  the  King  and  diminish  that  of  the  Nobles, 
who  were  the  chief  sources  of  danger  to  the  crown.  While  at 
the  time  of  their  passage  the  effect  of  the  Poynings'  laws  did 
not  extend  beyond  the  "Pale,"  yet  at  a  later  date,  when  English 
law  was  made  to  extend  over  the  whole  country,  and  the  Irish 
Parliament  made  laws  for  all  the  people  of  Ireland,  the  Poyn- 
ings' law,  which  still  remained  in  force,  was  felt  by  the  people 
to  be  one  of  their  greatest  grievances.  It  was  not  until  1782 
that  these  laws  were  repealed  through  the  signal  skill,  energy, 
moderation  and  the  splendid  eloquence  of  the  famous  patriot, 
Henry  Grattan. 

During  the  tremendous  struggle  between  the  Houses  of 
York  and  Lancaster,  the  Geraldines  sided  with  the  House  of 
York  and  the  Butlers  with  the  House  of  Lancaster.    After  the 


>-82  THE   FIGHT   UNTO   DEATH 

civil  war  was  over,  one  of  the  Geraldines  was  appointed  Lord 
Deputy  of  Ireland.  In  obedience  to  the  King's  mandate,  he  set 
out  for  England  and  left  young  Lord  Thomas  as  deputy  in  his 
place.  The  son  is  known  to  history  as  ' '  Silken  Thomas ' '  from 
the  gorgeous  trappings  of  himself  and  his  retinue.  He  was 
scarcely  twenty-one  years  of  age,  brave,  open  and  generous,  but 
enemies  who  hated  his  clan  were  plotting  for  his  down-fall. 
They  spread  the  report  that  his  father,  the  Lord  Deputy,  had 
been  beheaded  in  England,  and  that  all  his  relations  were  going 
to  be  treated  in  the  same  way.  This  aroused  the  impetuous 
young  Lord.  He,  with  his  retinue,  at  once  rode  to  St.  Mary's 
Abbey  where  the  Council  was  in  session,  and  openly  renounced 
his  allegiance,  delivered  up  his  sword  of  office  and  the  robes  of 
State.  He  collected  a  large  force,  led  them  to  Dublin,  and  laid 
siege  to  the  castle  where  the  leading  citizens,  including  Arch- 
bishop Allen,  had  sought  refuge  on  the  first  appearance  of  dan- 
ger. The  archbishop  was  captured  and  taken  to  Lord  Thomas. 
He  threw  himself  on  his  knees  for  mercy,  and  the  young  Lord, 
pitying  him,  ordered  his  attendants  to  take  him  away  and  keep 
him  in  custody.  They  wilfully  placed  a  wrong  construction  up- 
on his  words  and  murdered  the  archbishop  upon  the  spot. 

Sir  William  Skeffington  was  appointed  Deputy  by  the  King 
to  put  down  the  rebellion.  He  laid  siege  to  the  castle  of  May- 
mooth,  the  strongest  of  the  Fitzgerald  fortresses.  After  nine 
days'  siege  the  castle  fell,  battered  by  English  artillery,  which 
then  for  the  first  time  was  used  in  Ireland.  The  rebellion  had 
brought  the  English  "Pale"  to  a  frightful  state  as  it  was  sup- 
plemented by  the  plague  which  was  raging  over  the  whole 
country.  Lord  Gray  took  command  with  a  vigorous  hand  and 
made  short  work  of  the  rebellion.  Lord  Thomas  and  his  friend 
O'Connor  made  offers  of  submission.  O'Connor  was  ])ardoned 
and  Lord  Thomas  was  delivered  up  to  Lord  Gray  on  condition 
that  his  life  be  spared.  The  military  commander  determined 
to  blot  the  Geraldines  out  of  existence.  He  invited  five  of  the 
uncles  of  Lord  Thomas  to  a  banquet.  He  knew  that  three  of 
them  had  openly  opposed  the  rebellion,  nevertheless,  the  fact 
that  the  same  red  Geraldine  blood  coursed  through  their  veins 
was  sufficient  excuse  for  their  condemnation. 

Lord  Thomas  and  his  five  uncles  were  executed  at  Tyburn 
in  1537.  Thus  ended  the  rebellion  that  originated  in  treachery 
and  was  culminated  by  the  violation  of  the  rules  of  hospitali-ty 
— making  captive  under  your  own  roof  the  guest  whom  you  have 
invited,  and  condemning  him  to  death. 

Trouble  next  arose  over  a  conflict  between  the  feudal  laws 
of  England  and  the  old  Irish  law  of  Tanistry.    Under  the  form- 


THOlVfAS  H.  SULLIVAN  83 

er  titles  descended  to  the  eldest  son;  under  the  latter,  to  the 
chief  selected  by  the  clan. 

Con  0  'Neill,  Earl  of  Tyrone,  had  taken  his  title  from  Henry 
VIII,  subject  to  the  English  law  of  succession;  but  when  Con 
died  the  clan  O'Neill  chose  Shane  O'Neill,  the  hero  of  his  Sept 
to  be  The  O'Neill.  Shane  at  once  put  himself  forward  as  the 
champion  of  Irish  liberty,  the  supporter  of  the  Irish  right  to 
rule  themselves  in  their  own  way  without  the  interference  from 
England. 

Matthew,  an  adopted  son,  claimed  the  right  to  succeed  to 
the  earldom  \mder  the  English  law.  The  father  repented  his 
preference  for  Matthew  and  took  Shane's  part.  The  English 
authorities,  favoring  Matthew,  allured  Earl  Con  to  Dublin  un- 
der pretense  of  imjDortant  business,  and  then  kept  him  captive. 
Shane  was  immediately  in  arms,  both  to  avenge  his  father's  cap- 
ture and  to  maintain  what  he  believed  was  his  right  against 
Matthew  and  the  government. 

Sir  James  Croft  joined  Matthew  and  made  several  attempts 
to  subdue  the  young  chief,  but  was  unsuccessful.  In  the  year 
of  Queen  Elizabeth's  accession,  Matthew  was  assasinated  under 
circumstances  which  implicated  Shane,  though  he  was  not  pres- 
ent. The  father  then  died.  Shane  was  elected  in  accordance 
with  the  old  Irish  custom,  and  in  open  defiance  to  the  English 
law,  his  right  to  the  earldom  was  contested.  Shane  defeated 
his  rivals  in  turn  and  overcame  the  Earl  of  Sussex,  who  was 
sent  to  subdue  him. 

Failing  to  subdue  him  by  force,  the  Queen  resorted  to 
peaceful  methods.  She  sent  for  Shane  and  invited  him  to  Lon- 
don; with  his  retainers  all  clad  in  their  strange  native  attire, 
Shane  appeared  in  London;  he  made  formal  submission  to  the 
Queen,  received  full  pardon  and  had  all  his  expenses  paid. 
Shane  managed  his  affair  very  adroitly  in  England ;  in  the  game 
of  craft  against  craft,  the  London  officials  had  met  their  match. 
But  conditions  were  afterwards  submitted  to  Shane  for  signa- 
ture which  would  compromise  his  Irish  rights  and  privileges. 
To  sign  meant  an  opportunity  to  return  to  his  native  land;  to 
refuse  meant  the  tower  and  death.  He  signed  but  never  kept 
the  conditions;  in  fact  he  disregarded  them  entirely  and  re- 
newed the  warfare.  One  of  the  conditions  bound  Shane  to  make 
war  on  the  Scots  and  reduce  them  to  obedience.  He  did  make 
war  upon  them,  but  it  is  believed  rather  to  rid  himself  of  un- 
desirable and  powerful  neighbors  who  were  hostile  to  his  clan 
than  to  keep  the  pact  he  had  signed. 

He  was  finally  crushed,  not  by  the  government,  but  by  the 
O'Donnells:  in  this  last  conflict  he  was  utterly  ruined  and  by 


84  THE   FIGHT  UNTO  DEATH 

some  insane  resolution  sought  refuge  with  the  Scots,  whose  un- 
dying enmity  he  incurred  two  years  before.  They  received  him 
with  apparent  show  of  cordiality,  but  soon  raised  a  dispute  and 
put  to  death  this  valiant  warrior,  with  the  remnant  of  his  fol- 
lowers. 

After  Shane  O'Neill's  rebellion  his  lands  were  declared  for- 
feited, and  his  vassals  vassals  of  the  crown.  English  soldiers 
of  fortune  were  given  grants  from  Shane's  escheated  territory, 
but  when  they  attempted  to  settle  they  were  killed  bv  the  O'- 
Neill's. 

Others  under  Earl  of  Essex  came  and  did  their  best  to  sim- 
plify the  process  of  colonization  by  exterminating  the  O'Neills, 
men,  women  and  children.  Two  years'  trial  proved  unsuccess- 
ful. But  other  colonizers  came ;  some  under  Peter  Carew,  siezed 
on  Cork,  Limerick  and  Kerry  and  sought  to  hold  them  by  exter- 
pating  the  hated  natives.  It  was  against  these  colonizers  that 
the  great  Geraldine  League  was  formed. 

In  the  reign  of  Mary,  that  boy  of  twelve,  whom  Henry  VIII 
had  not  been  able  to  include  in  the  general  doom  of  his  house, 
had  been  allowed  to  return  to  Ireland  and  resume  his  ancestral 
honors.  Once  more  the  Geraldines  were  a  great  and  powerful 
family  in  Ireland.  With  encouragement  from  Eome  and  prom- 
ises of  assistance  from  Spain  they  rose  again  under  the  Earl  of 
Desmond  and  Sir  James  Fitzmaurice  Fitzgerald.  They  met  with 
some  successes  at  first :  but  as  they  had  many  wrongs  to  avenge,^ 
they  followed  up  their  victories. 

To  prevent  further  uprising  Sir  Francis  Crosby,  the  Queen's 
representative,  invited  the  chiefs  and  their  kinsmen  to  a  great 
banquet  at  the  fort  of  Mullaghmast,  and  there  massacred  them 
all.  Out  of  400  guests  only  one  escaped  the  feast  of  blood.  This 
inhuman  act  only  served  to  inflame  the  minds .  of  the  native 
tribes  who  rose  in  all  directions  to  respond  to  the  Desmond  call. 
Elizabeth  at  once  sent  over  troops  under  the  new  Lord  Deputy, 
Sir  William  Pelliam.  He  had  with  him  as  an  ally  Ormond,  the 
head  of  the  house  of  Butler,  hereditary  foes  of  the  Geraldines. 
The  English  army  cut  its  way  over  Munster  with  unexampled 
ferocity.  Ormond  boasted  that  he  had  put  to  death  nearly 
6,000  disaffected  persons.  Spanish  and  Italian  aid  arrived  too 
late. 

It  was  during  this  uprising  that  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  and 
Edmund  Spencer  held  commands.  Here  it  was  that  Raleigh 
killed  prisoners  in  cold  blood  to  serve  a  sovereign  and  after- 
wards another  rewarded  him  for  his  loyalty  by  having  him  be- 
headed. 

Munster  was  so  vigorously  laid  waste  that  even  Froude  de- 


THOMAS  H.  SULLIVAN  8S 

clares  that  ''the  lowing  of  a  cow  or  the  sound  of  a  ploughboy's 
whistle  was  not  to  be  heard  from  Valentia  to  the  Eock  of  Cas- 
kel."  Holinshed  says  that  "a  traveller  would  not  meet  any 
man,  woman  or  child,  saving  in  the  towns  and  cities,  and  would 
not  see  any  beast ; ' '  and  Spencer  gives  a  melancholy  picture  of 
the  inhabitants  ' '  as  that  any  strong  heart  would  rue  the  same. ' ' 

The  estate  of  Desmond  and  his  followers  was  forfeited  to 
the  crown,  and  thus  ended  another  uprising. 

The  next  and  last  rebellion  within  the  period  to  which  we 
are  giving  our  attention  was  that  of  Hugh  0  'Neill.  Hugh  0  '- 
Neill  was  borij  about  1545;  was  educated  among  the  English 
as  his  father  had  always  been  on  the  side  of  the  government.  He 
began  his  military  life  in  the  Queen's  service  as  a  commander 
of  a  troop  of  horse.  The  Irish  parliament  made  him  Earl  of 
Tyrone  in  succession  to  his  grandfather,  Earl  Con.  O'Neill. 
In  the  brilliant  Court  of  Elizabeth  the  young  Irish  chief  was  dis- 
tinguished for  his  gifts  of  mind  and  body.  When  of  age  he  was 
allowed  to  return  to  his  native  land.  Once  within  his  own 
country  he  assumed  the  ancestral  title  of  ''The  O'Neill"  and  re- 
vived all  the  customs  of  the  independent  Irish  chieftans.  For  a 
long  time  he  took  no  part  in  the  revolts  or  uprisings,  but  re- 
mained passively  loyal  to  the  government.  At  length  the  treach- 
erous capture  of  Hugh  Eoe  O'Donnell  and  his  subsequent  im- 
prisonment in  Dublin  Castle,  the  refusal  of  Sir  Henry  Bagenal, 
military  commander  of  Ireland,  to  give  Hugh  his  sister  in  mar- 
riage, the  subsequent  marriage  against  Sir  Henry's  will  and  the 
enmity  it  caused,  and  the  ties  of  friendship  and  love  for  his 
countrymen  overcame  his  loyalty  and  drove  him  into  ihe  rebel- 
lion which  has  taken  his  name.  For  a  long  time  prior  to  the  ac- 
tual break  he  had  been  drilling  men  and  obtaining  ammunition 
under  varying  pretenses.  There  were  now  alarming  signs  and 
rumors  of  the  coming  disturbance.  Three  thousand  English 
soldiers  were  sent  over  under  Sir  John  Norris.  0  'Neill  regard- 
ed this  as  the  first  step  toward  the  subjugation  of  the  entire 
country,  including  his  own  province  of  Ulster.  He  seized  and 
plundered  Portmore,  Cavan  and  Monaghan.  Lord  General  Nor- 
ris marched  against  him,  but  without  success.  Failing  to  check 
him  by  arms,  resort  was  made  to  negotiate  for  peace;  but  O'- 
Neill insisted  that  the  Catholics  should  be  free  to  practice  their 
religion.  This  was  refused  and  the  war  went  on.  There  were 
numerous  cl/ashes  of  arms,  and  Hugh  was  continuously  success- 
ful. Then  came  the  Battle  of  Yellow  Ford  in  1598,  where  O'- 
Neill and  his  followers  gained  the  greatest  victory  ever  won  in 
Ireland  over  English  arms.    Two  thousand  of  the  English,  in- 


86  THE  FIGHT  UNTO  DEATH 

eluding  their  commander  and  most  of  their  officers,  were  killed. 
The  Irish  loss  was  less  than  700. 

It  was  in  this  battle  that  Hugh  sought  out  Sir  Henry,  who 
had  refused  him  his  sister  in  marriage,  that  he  might  slay  him 
in  single  combat.  But  fate  had  otherwise  decreed ;  before  0  'Neill 
could  reach  him,  another's  bullet  had  dispatched  him.  Victory 
was  now  at  high  tide,  but  the  tide  was  soon  to  ebb.  The  Span- 
ish allies,  3400  strong,  entered  the  harbor  of  Kinsale  on  Septem- 
ber, 1601.  The  news  of  their  arrival  brought  Mount  joy  and 
Carew,  with  12,000  of  Elizabeth's  troops.  O'Neill  hastened  to 
Kinsale  with  4000  men.  It  was  then  mid- winter.  The  English 
were  encamped  outside  Kinsale.  They  found  themselves 
hemmed  in  between  the  Irish  and  the  Spaniards.  Lack  of  sup- 
plies and  inability  to  get  them  were  causing  great  hardship  for 
the  Queen's  Army.  A  council  of  war  was  held.  Del  Aguila, 
commander  of  the  Spanish,  advised  an  immediate  attack — 
O'Neill  counseled  delay.  It  was  decided  to  give  the  English 
battle.  Hugh  drew  close  to  the  English  lines.  Del  Aguila,  for 
some  unknown  reason,  failed  to  carry  out  his  part.  Mountjoy  's 
quick  eye  caught  the  situation  at  a  glance;  he  charged  with  his 
cavalry  and  routed  O'Neill  completely.  The  revolution  was  at 
an  end;  but  nevertheless  Hugh  continued  the  warfare  and 
yielded,  after  the  disaster  his  Spanish  allies  had  brought  on 
him  at  Kinsale,  only  upon  condition  of  being  guaranteed  his 
titles  and  his  lands:  by  this  time  Elizabeth,  who  hated  him  so 
much  and  so  longed  for  his  destruction,  had  breathed  her  last. 

No  such  able  chief  appeared  since  the  days  of  Brian  Boru. 
Cool,  cautious,  vigilant,  he  laid  his  plans  with  care,  and  knew 
how  to  wait  patiently  for  results.  Never  impulsive,  never 
boastful,  wise  in  council  and  wary  in  speech  from  his  long  resi- 
dence in  London,  he  learned  dissimulation,  and  was  as  crafty 
as  the  craftiest  English  minister.  What  he  might  have  done 
had  he  been  loyally  supported  at  Kinsale  it  is  hard  to  say. 

It  was  during  this  uprising  that  Carew  with  4000  men  be- 
sieged Dunboy,  which  was  defended  by  143  men.  The  defend- 
ers fought  to  the  last  ditch.  English  cannon  battered  the  castle 
but  the  Irish  never  yielded  till  the  few  survivors  were  overpow- 
ered and  taken  prisoners.  Fifty-eight  of  these  were  executed  on 
the  same  day.  Taylor,  the  Irish  commander,  and  fourteen  men 
were  reserved  to  tempt  them  to  give  information.  They  firmly 
refused  to  purchase  their  lives  on  this  condition,  and  were  all 
hanged.  No  one  of  the  defenders  escaped;  they  were  all  either 
slain,  executed  or  buried  in  the  ruins,  so  obstinate  and  resolved 
was  their  defense. 

After  the  capture  of  Dunboy,  0 'Sullivan  Beare  began  his 


THOMAS  H.  SULLIVAN  87 

famous  retreat.  He  had  kept  up  the  struggle  resolutely,  but  the 
odds  were  against  him.  On  the  last  day  of  December.  1602,  he 
set  out  from  Glengarriif  with  400  fighting  men,  and  600  women, 
children  and  servants.  Through  the  mountains  and  glens, 
avoiding  the  main  roads,  midst  hardship,  sufferings  and  priva- 
tions, frequently  attacked,  sick  in  mind  and  heart  at  the  scene 
which  was  ever  before  him,  he  made  his  way  to  Leitrim  Castle. 
A  fortnight  before  they  set  out  from  Glengarriff  1000  in  number, 
but  on  that  morning,  only  35  survived  to  enter  the  castle.  Such 
were  the  hardships  and  trials  of  our  ancestors  in  the  Emerald 
Isle.  It  was  during  these  times  that  the  Ancient  Order  of  Hiber- 
nians was  founded.  This  organization  grew  up  gradually  among 
the  Catholics  of  Ireland,  owing  to  the  dreadful  hardships  and 
persecutions  to  which  they  were  subjected.  During  the  reign 
of  Henry  VIII  and  Elizabeth,  Acts  of  Uniformity  and  Suprem- 
acy were  passed.  The  Act  of  Supremacy  invested  the  King  with 
spiritual  jurisdiction,  and,  in  substitution  for  the  Pope,  pro- 
claimed him  head  of  the  church.  The  Act  of  Uniformity  made 
Protestantism  the  state  creed.  In  consequence  of  these  and  oth- 
er acts  the  bishops  of  the  Irish  were  hunted  like  wolves,  forced 
to  steal  in  and  out  of  their  native  land  and  to  beg  their  bread 
from  the  King  of  Spain  or  the  King  of  France.  Their  clergy 
had  no  better  fate,  and  for  many  long  decades  were  tracked 
pitilessly  from  glen  to  mountain,  from  forest  to  bog,  as  though 
they  were  a  wretched  vermin  in  the  body  politic.  It  is  a  tradi- 
tion in  the  Ancient  Order  that  they  first  started  as  the  body 
guard  of  their  poor  parish  priest  when  he  said  mass  in  the  open 
air.  And  many  a  rude  print  still  exists  representing  these  men 
at  the  mouth  of  a  glen  in  conflict  with  the  English  soldiery. 
Within  the  priest  finished  his  mass  amid  the  falling  snow,  be- 
fore terrified  women  and  children,  while  the  eternal  hills  of 
holy  Ireland  looked  down  on  a  scene  of  martyrdom  not  sur- 
passed by  any  holocaust  of  the  Collosseum. 

It  is  claimed  that  Rory  0 'Moore  organized  and  founded 
Hibernianism  in  the  year  1565  in  the  County  of  Kildare,  in  the 
Province  of  Leinster,  and  gave  to  his  faithful  followers  the 
name  of  ''The  Defenders."  The  necessity  of  defending  the 
priest  by  force  has  rapidly  passed  away,  but  the  organization 
still  lives  and  flourishes  under  its  motto,  ''Friendship,  Unity 
and  True  Christian  Charity." 

Strife,  disorder  and  discontent  always  interfere  with  the 
general  pursuit  of  education  and  religion.  During  this  period 
education  was  not  entirely  neglected,  but  did  not  flourish  as  in 
the  earlier  days  when  Ireland  was  the  school  house  of  Europe. 

Desmond's  Irish  councilors  understood  Latin,  and  Shane 


John  J.  Cummings,  M.  D. 


Dr.  John  J.  Cummings  was  born  in  Worcester, 
Mass.,  March  16,  1870,  the  son  of  Thomas  C.  Cummings 
and  Margaret  (Hunt)  Cummings,  both  natives  of  Coun- 
ty "VVaterford,  Ireland.  He  was  educated  in  the  public 
schools  and  the  Worcester  Classical  High  School.  He 
entered  Columbia  University  Medical  School,  New 
York  City,  and  was  graduated  in  1899. 

Dr.  Cummings  is  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts 
Medical  Society.  For  twelve  years  he  has  held  mem- 
bership in  Division  35,  A.  0.  H.,  of  Worcester,  and  for 
a  number  of  years  served  as  physician  for  the  Division. 
June  30,  1903,  Dr.  Cummings  was  married  to  Nellie  G. 
Donovan,  daughter  of  Jeremiah  Donovan  and  Mary 
(Daly)  Donovan  of  Worcester. 


A^*^'*^-t-^--.>^^*^^t^^  ^<^ 


i^strurtinn  unh  i^snlatinn 


1608 — 1690 
BY 


JOHN  J.   CUMMI'NGS,   M.   D. 


THE  FLIGHT  OF  THE  EAELS 

Upon  the  death  of  Elizabeth  in  1603,  James,  the  son  of  the 
xmfortunate  Mary  Stuart,  Queen  of  the  Scots,  became  King  of 
England,  and  for  the  first  time  in  their  history  the  Irish  people 
accepted  English  rule,  and  gave  willing  submission  to  an  Eng- 
lish dynasty,  supporting  it  afterward  with  their  life  blood. 

James  began  by  a  policy  of  conciliation  and  toleration,  and 
it  looked  as  if  a  new  era  of  prosperity  was  dawning  upon  Ire- 
land, He  accepted  Tyrone's  homage  and  created  Kory  O'Don- 
nell.  Earl  of  Tyrconnell.  The  public  worship  of  the  national  re- 
ligion, if  not  legalized,  was  at  least  tolerated. 

But  a  few  short  years  and  conditions  changed.  First  a 
conspiracy  developed  which  involved  the  two  northern  Earls, 
and,  although  guiltless  even  in  the  opinion  of  the  English,  they 
^ere  forced  to  flee  for  their  lives,  first  to  France,  and  thence  to 
Home,  where  they  eventually  died  in  exile. 

Meanwhile  the  King  in  1607,  issued  a  proclamation,  declar- 
ing forfeit  to  the  crown,  the  lands  and  estates  of  the  two  Earls, 
and  promising  protection  to  the  inhabitants  of  these  counties. 
A  rising,  under  Sir  Caliir  O'Doherty,  which  was  limited  to  In- 
nishowen,  a  small  portion  of  Tyrconnell,  was  made  the  excuse 
for  the  violation  of  these  solemn  pledges, — pledges  which  re- 
ferred to  the  Celts  of  six  counties.  Then  began  the  movement 
to  root  out  the  natives  of  these  estates  and  the  first  steps  to- 
wards the  plantations  of  Ulster  had  been  taken. 

THE  PLANTATIONS  OF  ULSTER 

James  brought  in  with  him  from  Scotland  a  host  of  greedy 


90  DESTRUCTION  AND  DESOLATION 

followers,  all  of  whom  expected  to  rise  with  their  king  to  a. 
position  of  wealth  and  power.  England  was  not  wide  enough 
to  hold  them  nor  rich  enough  to  satiate  their  appetites.  The 
puzzled,  but  crafty  king  turned  to  Ireland. 

Taking  over  the  forfeited  lands  of  Tyrone  and  Tyrconnell,. 
he  distributed  them  with  a  lavish  hand.  He  did  not  limit  the 
distribution  to  soldiers  and  officers  of  rank,  as  had  been  done  in 
previous  plantations,  but  gave  it  to  English  and  Scotch  adven- 
turers, and  to  London  trade  companies. 

He  settled  it  on  Protestant  colonies  whose  first  use  of  their 
power  was  to  evict  the  former  tenants  or  clansmen,  thus  effect- 
ing a  complete  change  in  the  religious  and  social  aspect  of  the 
north,  and  Ulster  became  then,  and  has  since  remained,  a  prov- 
ince occupied  and  controlled  by  a  people,  alien  to  the  country. 

Then  over  into  Ireland,  James  sent  his  Lord  Deputy  and 
his  Surveyor  General,  and  they  became  the  heads  of  his  cele- 
lirated  *' Commission  for  the  investigation  of  defective  titles." 
Most  Irish  families  held  possession  of  their  lands  by  tradition 
and  their  rights  could  not  be  proven  by  regular  title  deeds.  A 
horde  of  spies  was  employed  under  the  name  of  "Discoverers," 
and  these  over-ran  the  country,  finding  or  inventing  flaws  in 
the  titles  by  which  these  Irish  families  held  their  possessions. 

As  a  result  of  the  work  of  the  Discoverers,  nearly  half  a 
million  acres  were  found  "by  inquisition  to  be  vested  in  the 
Crown,"  "inasmuch  as  the  titles  were  not  such  as  ought,"  in 
their  judgment,  "to  stand  in  the  way  of  his  Majesty's  designs.'^ 

These  lands  were  divided  among  three  classes,  the  under- 
takers, who  were  English  and  Scotch  Protestants;  the  servitors, 
who  were  Protestant  Irish;  and  the  old  natives.  Large  grants 
were  also  made  to  Protestant  churches  and  educational  institu- 
tions— Trinity  College  in  Dublin  receiving  nearly  ten  thousand 
acres. 

All  who  had  been  under  arms  in  Tyrone's  war  were  to  be- 
transplanted  with  their  families  and  cattle  to  the  waste  places 
in  Munster  and  Connaught.  They  were  so  numerous,  however, 
that  there  was  not  room  for  them  all  there,  and  many  remained 
as  laborers  for  the  new  tenants,  or  became  wanderers  and  fugi- 
tives near  their  old  homes. 

FIRST  NATIONAL  PARLIAMENT 

After  a  lapse  of  twenty-seven  years,  during  which  no  par- 
liament had  been  held  in  Ireland,  James  I  issued  writs  for  the 
attendance  of  both  houses  at  Dublin.  The  work  of  confiscation 
and  plantation  had  gone  on  for  several  years  without  the  sane- 


JOHN  J.   CUMMINGS,   M.   D.  9t 

tion  of  the  legislature.  Normally,  there  would  be  a  large  ma- 
jority of  Catholics  in  the  House  of  Commons.  To  offset  this 
majority,  over  forty  fictitious  boroughs,  each  returning  twa 
members,  were  created  by  royal  charter. 

The  House  of  Commons,  so  constituted,  contained  two 
hundred  and  thirty-two  members,  of  which  the  supporters  of 
the  government  claimed  one  hundred  twenty-five;  the  Catholic 
party  one  hundred  one;  and  six  absentees.  The  upper  house 
consisted  of  fifty  peers,  of  whom  twentj^'-five  were  Protestant 
bishops.  Thus  James  I  gave  to  Ireland  her  so-called  '  *  first  free 
parliament. ' ' 

Hence  long  before  the  death  of  James  I,  which  occurred  in 
1625,  all  the  hopes  which  his  accession  had  raised  in  the  hearts 
of  the  Irish  had  vanished. 

They  were  revived  again  on  the  coming  to  the  throne  of 
Charles,  the  husband  of  the  Catholic  princess,  Henrietta  of 
France.  Charles  and  his  ministers  encouraged  them  in  their 
expectations.  In  consideration  of  the  payment  of  one  hundred 
and  twenty  thousand  pounds,  in  three  yearly  installments,  he 
promised  them  certain  concessions,  known  as  the  ''fifty-one 
graces. ' ' 

The  Irish  Lords  had  paid  over  two-thirds  of  the  stipulated 
amount,  and  then  discovered  that  the  afore  mentioned  con- 
cessions had  not  materialized.    Instead  there  were  more  brok 
en  promises,  more  robbing  of  the  natives  through  the  working 
of  the  ' '  Court  of  Defective  titles. ' ' 

Meanwhile,  Charles  was  having  his  troubles  both  in  Eng- 
land and  Scotland.  The  Scotch  were  making  their  successful 
fight  for  the  liberty  to  worship  as  they  pleased. 

The  Puritans  in  England  were  growing  in  power  and  at 
last  obtained  control  of  parliament  and  were  in  full  opposition 
to  the  policies  of  the  king.  With  a  Protestant  parliament  in 
power,  there  was  little  hope  in  Ireland  of  any  relief  and  a  spirit 
of  unrest  began  to  make  itself  manifest. 

THE  REBELLION  OF  1641 

At  the  head  of  this  uprising  were  Roger  0  'Moore,  the  pop- 
ular leader,  the  famous  Rory  O 'Moore,  of  song  and  poetry,  Sir 
Phelim  O'Neil,  Lord  Maguire  and  others  of  the  gentry.  It  was 
agreed  that  all  the  forts  and  arms  should  be  seized,  all  the  gen- 
try should  be  made  prisoners,  but  that  none  should  be  killed. 
Many  prejudiced  historians  have  stated  that  this  rebellion  was 
characterized  by  massacre  and  the  ruthless  murder  of  the  Eng- 
lish and  Protestant  inhabitants.     In  proof  that  such  was  not 


92  DESTRUCTION  AND  DESOLATION 

the  case,  here  is  the  oath  subscribed  to,  by  all  who  joined  the 
rebels : — 

1st.  ' '  To  maintain  and  defend  the  public  and  free  exercise 
of  the  Catholic  religion.'^ 

2nd.  ''To  give  allegiance  to  King  Charles,  his  heirs  and 
successors,  and  to  support  them  against  anyone  who  should 
attempt  injury  to  their  persons  or  estates." 

3rd.  ' '  To  receive  the  power  and  privilege  of  parliament, 
the  lawful  rights  and  privileges  of  the  subject." 

''The  remonstrance  to  the  Lord  Justices  states  that  wo 
harbor  not  the  least  thoughts  of  hostility  toward  his  Majesty 
or  purpose  any  hurt  to  his  Majesty's  subjects,  in  their  posses- 
sions, goods,  or  liberty."  The  remonstrance  further  deplores 
any  acts  of  lawlessness,  or  of  cruelty  imposed  upon  the  English 
or  Protestant  inhabitants,  with  promises  to  use  their  best  en- 
deavors to  make  restitution  and  satisfaction  for  any  that  may 
have  occurred. 

Thus  we  have  an  account  of  the  aims  and  objects  of  the 
Irish  lords  in  the  beginning  of  this  struggle  against  England's 
oppression.  And  so  it  came  to  pass,  that  on  the  23rd  of  Octo- 
ber in  1641,  Ireland,  with  the  exception  of  Dublin,  and  a  few 
other  strongholds,  severed  itself  from  England.  The  failure 
in  Dublin  was  due  to  the  fact  that  the  officials  were  warned  in 
time  by  information  given  by  the  informer  Owen  0 'Connelly, 
an  Irish  Protestant  servant,  who  revealed  to  his  master,  the 
details  of  the  plot. 

Out  of  the  confusion  and  general  upheaval  in  Ireland  at 
this  time  there  finally  emerged  four  more  or  less  well  defined 
parties,  each  of  which  had  attracted  to  itself  a  certain  number 
of  followers. 

1st.  There  was  the  Old  Irish  which  stood  for  total  sepa- 
ration from  England.  These  were  the  people  who  had  suffered 
most  from  the  plantations  of  Ulster  and  the  subsequent  re- 
ligious persecutions.  They  were  under  the  command  of  Sir 
PhelimO'Neil. 

2nd.  The  Anglo-Irish  or  Norman,  who  had  suffered  in  the 
same  way  though  not  so  severely.  They  stood  for  religious 
and  civil  liberty,  but  political  Unity  with  England.  They  occu- 
pied the  central  and  western  parts  of  the  country  and  were 
commanded  by  Lord  Preston.  These  two  parties  were  Catholic. 
3rd.  The  Presbyterians  and  Puritans  in  Ulster  under 
Monro.  These  were  with  the  English  Parliament  and  acted 
with  the  Scottish  covenanters  and  were  the  most  bitter  enemies 
of  the  King. 

4th.    The  royalists,  the  supporters  of  the  King,  who  were 


JOHN  J.  CUMMINGS,  M.  D.  93 

Protestants,  and  the  oflScial  representatives  of  the  Crown.  At 
their*  head  was  Ormond  with  headquarters  in  Dublin. 

For  nearly  a  year,  fighting  went  on  in  Ulster  with  varying 
success.  Sometimes  the  Old  Irish  were  successful  and  in  turn 
suffered  defeat  by  the  Puritan  or  Parliamentary  army  under 
Monro. 

Sir  Phelim  O'Neil,  as  general  of  the  Ulster  army  of  the 
north,  had  not  the  attributes  of  a  successful  commander.  Be- 
tween himself  and  Lord  Preston,  commander  of  the  Catholic 
army  of  the  west,  there  was  no  union  but  rather  a  jealous  rival- 
ry. 

At  the  suggestion  of  the  Catholic  bishops,  a  general  assem- 
bly met  on  the  22nd  of  October,  1642,  at  Kilkenny.  Eleven 
Bishops  and  fourteen  lay  lords  represented  the  Irish  peerage 
and  226  commoners  represented  the  people. 

A  celebrated  lawyer,  Patrick  Darcy,  a  member  of  the  Com- 
mons, was  appointed  Chancellor.  A  Supreme  Council,  chosen 
from  among  the  members,  was  to  be  the  executive  branch  of 
the  new  government.  This,  then,  was  the  Confederation  of 
Kilkenny,  and  it  undertook  to  manage,  and  with  some  measure 
of  success,  the  affairs  of  the  Irish  Nation. 

The  Council  appointed  Gen.  Preston  in  command  of  the  ar- 
my in  Leinster;  Gen.  Barry  in  Munster;  Sir  John  Burke  in  Con- 
naught;  and  Owen  Roe  O'Neil  in  charge  of  the  forces  of  the 
north.  Of  these  four  generals,  Owen  Roe  O'Neil  was  the  only 
one  to  achieve  any  signal  success,  and  he  won  undying  fame  for 
himself  in  his  management  of  his  campaign. 

OWN  ROE  O'NEIL  was  the  grandson  of  Art,  brother  of 
the  great  Hugh  O'Neil,  Earl  of  Tyrone.  Educated  abroad  at 
the  college  of  the  Irish  Franciscans  in  Louvain,  he  afterward 
went  to  Spain,  where  he  was  trained  as  soldier  and  scholar.  He 
rose  to  the  command  of  the  Irish  regiments  in  the  Spanish  army, 
during  that  country's,  war  with  France. 

To  the  Irish  he  later  became  a  popular  idol,  and  well  did 
he  deserve  their  loyalty.  As  long  as  tradition  lasts,  so  long  will 
the  children  of  the  Irish  be  told  and  retold  of  the  glories  of 
"Owen  Roe." 

At  the  breaking  out  of  the  Rebellion  he  was  living  in  Brus- 
sels, but  when  after  a  year's  fruitless  fighting,  his,  countrymen 
sent  out  a  call  for  his  help,  he  left  rank  and  station  abroad,  and 
taking  up  the  sword  of  his  great  ancestor,  which  had  been  sent 
to  him  from  Rome,  he  returned  to  his  desolate  Ireland,  and 
bravely  did  he  battle  for  his  God  and  his  country. 

He,  together  with  about  one  hundred  other  Irish  officers,. 


94  DESTRUCTION  AND  DESOLATION 

g-ave  up  their  places  in  the  foreign  service  and  sailed  for  home, 
landing  at  Donegal  in  Jnly,  16-1:2. 

He  had  in  him  all  the  qualities  that  constitute  a  leader  of 
men,  a  clear  sound  judgment,  chivalrous  valour,  bravery  in  the 
field,  skill  in  profiting  of  every  advantage  offered  by  the'  enemy, 
and  a  caution  which  left  nothing  to  chance.  For  several  years 
he  kept  together  an  army  created  by  his  own  genius,  without 
a  government  at  his  back,  without  regular  supplies,  enforcing 
discipline  and  obedience,  gaining  victories  and  maintaining  a 
native  power  even  in  the  very  heart  of  the  kingdom.  Always 
intent  on  the  welfare  of  his  country,  he  rose  high  above  the 
thousand  and  one  petty  jealousies  and  intrigues  that  surround- 
ed him.  Loved  and  obeyed  by  his  followers,  he  was  respected 
and  admired  by  his  enemies,  some  of  whom  openly  regretted 
that  such  a  good  man  had  become  identified  with  such  a  bad 
cause. 

Upon  assuming  command  of  the  Catholic  army  of  the  north, 
he  assembled  his  followers  at  Dungannon,  the  hereditary 
stronghold  of  his  clan,  and  here  he  and  his  men  took  the  oath 
of  obligation  to  the  Catholic  Confederation.  Then  followed 
four  years  of  unceasing  training  of  his  undisciplined  army. 

With  the  help  of  his  experienced  officers  he  taught  the 
herdsmen  and  countrymen  the  use  of  the  muskets  and  the  pike, 
involving  them  only  in  small  battles  and  skirmishes  until  they 
had  gained  the  experience  and  confidence  of  an  efficient  fighting 
force. 

And  then  in  1646,  on  the  4th  day  of  June,  came  the  meeting 
of  the  army  of  the  Parliament  and  0 'Neil's  force  on  the  battle- 
field of  Benburb.  The  battle  of  Benburb  has  been  often  and 
well  described.  There  was  a  movement  started  to  unite  the 
Scottish  forces  and  proceed  southward  to  Limerick,  there  to  at- 
tack the  government  of  the  Confederation.  Gen.  O'Neil  with 
five  thousand  foot,  and  five  hundred  horse,  all  ' '  good  and  hope- 
ful men,"  to  use  his  own  expression,  by  a  forced  march  reached 
the  northern  Blackwater,  and  pitched  his  camp  on  the  north 
bank.  Here  he  was,  directly  between  the  two  Monroes,  who 
could  join  their  Scottish  forces  only  after  dislodging  him.  Rob- 
ert Monro,  who  reached  his  position  first,  saw  it  would  be  neces- 
sary to  give  battle  to  save  the  smaller  forces  of  his  brother, 
who  were  coming  from  the  north.  Consequently,  he  began  to 
move  on  0 'Neil's  position  at  dawn  on  June  5th,  1646,  and  pres- 
ently reached  the  Blackwater,  where  he  found  himself  face  to 
face  with  0 'Neil's  army  across  the  river.  Here,  then,  is  the 
spectacle  presented  by  the  two  armies,  marching  in  parallel 
lines,  on  either  bank  of  the  river.    Coming  to  a  hill,  which  he 


JOHN  J.   CUMMINGS,   M.   D.  95 

liad  previously  selected  as  a  strong  position,  O'Neil  retreated, 
and  Monro,  fording  the  Blackwater,  was  in  full  pursuit. 
O 'Neil's  stronghold  had  the  center  of  his  army  protected  by 
the  hill,  the  right  by  a  marsh,  and  the  left  by  the  Oona  Water, 
and  in  the  foreground  flowed  the  Blackwater. 

While  fighting  was  going  on  at  the  pass  through  which 
O'Neil  had  retreated  and  left  guarded,  he  drew  up  his  line  of 
battle.  And  now  the  two  armies  have  met  beyond  the  hill  and 
the  battle  is  on.  For  four  long  hours  in  the  heat  and  dust  of 
that  June  day,  O'Neil  retreated  and  shifted,  and  the  Scottish 
army  threw  itself  time  after  time  on  the  enemy,  who  disap- 
peared behind  hedge  and  rock,  and  only  came  forth  to  repulse 
an  attack.  And  still  O'Neil  held  his  men  back.  To  the  mutter - 
ings  and  complaints  of  some  of  his  officers,  who  had  hard  work 
holding  the  men,  he  replied,  ''Wait  for  the  sun,"  and  when  to- 
wards evening  the  sun  had  fallen  low  enough  in  the  sky  to  shed 
its  brilliant  rays  full  in  the  faces  of  the  tired  and  exhausted 
Scotch  troopers,  0  'Neil  gave  the  long-delayed  word  to  his  army. 

On  they  came,  in  a  sweeping  movement  from  right  to  left, 
and  before  them  the  Scottish  cavalry  wavered  and  broke.  Still 
on  they  came,  and  following  the  Irish  cavalry  came  the  pike- 
men.  And  now  it  was  a  hand  to  hand  struggle, — a  bayonet 
charge — and  the  Scotch  forces  hemmed  in  between  the  two 
streams,  were  in  dire  confusion.  Finally,  the  Irish  army  reached 
and  stormed  the  hill  where  Monro's  guns  were  placed,  and  the 
victory  was  won.  The  defeat  of  the  Scotch  army  was  a  complete 
rout,  and  when  the  sun  had  set  more  than  three  thousand  of  the 
Monro's  men  lay  dead  on  the  field.  In  addition  Monro  lost  all 
his  artillery,  tents  and  baggage,  fifteen  hundred  horses,  twenty 
stands  of  colors,  two  months '  provisions,  and  numerous  prison- 
ers of  war.  The  Irish  lost  but  seventy,  incredible  as  it  may 
seem,  but  such  is  the  number  given  by  their  opponents.  After 
this  battle,  Gen.  Monro  writing  home  says,  "The  Lord  hath 
rubbed  shame  on  our  faces  till  we  are  humbled;"  and  the  Irish 
people  welcomed  O'Neil  with  a  unanimous  joy  and  acclaim. 

"Owen  Roe — our  own  O'Neil! 

He  treads  once  more  our  land: 
The  sword  in  his  hand  is  Spanish  steel. 

But  the  hand  is  an  Irish  hand." 

Meanwhile,  the  Confederation  and  Ormond,  representing 
the  King,  Charles  I,  had  been  parleying  for  the  restitution  of 
the  confiscated  lands  and  the  repeal  of  the  penal  laws.  But  the 
King,  although  anxious  to  keep  the  Irish  with  him  as  an  aid 


96  DESTRUCTION  AND  DESOLATION 

against  the  Parliament,  did  not  dare  concede  all  that  was  de- 
manded and  held  off  with  promises.  Had  the  issue  been  forced 
by  the  Confederation  after  the  decisive  battle  of  Benburb,  Ire- 
land's history  might  have  been  different,  but  there  was  delay 
and  indecision,  and  as  the  Arab  proverb  puts  it,  ''There  are 
three  things  which  cannot  be  recalled,  The  sped  arrow,  The 
spoken  word,  The  lost  opportunity."  The  Irish  had  missed  their 
chance. 

Later  there  was  an  attempt  to  attack  Dublin,  and  force  tlie- 
Royalists  to  terms,  but  dissensions  broke  out  between  O'NeiL 
and  Preston,  the  other  Catholic  general,  and  O'Neil,  disheart- 
ened and  discouraged  and  almost  betrayed  by  the  Confedera- 
tion, turned  first  to  Ormond — whom  he  disliked  and  distrusted 
— and  then  to  the  Parliament,  whom  he  knew  hated  and  opposed 
him.  They  both  held  out  concessions,  and  finally  O'Neil  gave 
his  consent  against  his  better  judgment  to  a  peace,  which  a  year 
before  he  had  openly  rejected,  and  on  the  17th  of  January, 
1649,  a  peace  was  signed  between  Ormond,  acting  for  King 
Charles,  and  the  Catholic  Confederation.  This  Treaty  repealed 
the  penal  acts,  which  had  operated  against  the  free  practice  of 
the  Catholic  religion,  and  re-opened  to  them  their  places  of 
worship,  the  freedom  of  their  own  churches. 

In  the  meantime  the  Puritan  Parliament,  having  defeated 
the  forces  of  King  Charles,  and  having  taken  him  prisoner, 
tried  and  convicted  him  on  a  charge  of  treason.  The  King  was 
beheaded  Jan.  30,  1649,  and  England  was  completely  in  the 
power  of  parliament  and  Oliver  Cromwell. 

CROMWELL  IN  IRELAND 

For  some  time  after  the  execution  of  Charles  I,  the  Parlia- 
mentarians lost  ground  in  Ireland.  Charles  II,  son  of  the  mur- 
dered King,  was  proclaimed  King  by  nearly  all  parties,  includ- 
ing Ormond,  the  Confederation,  and  the  Scotch  Presbyterians. 
Ormond  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  forces  favorable  to  the- 
King,  and  he  resolved  to  capture  Dublin,  which  he  had  so  easily 
surrendered  two  years  before. 

Together  with  Lord  Inchiquin,  he  laid  seige  to  the  city, 
though  thev  were  but  poorly  equipped  for  the  task.  They  were 
surprised  and  defeated  at  JRathmines,  Aug.  2nd,  1649,  by  Col. 
Michael  Jones,  at  the  head  of  the  Parliamentary  army.  They 
lost  between  3000  and  5000  men.  This  closed  Ormond 's  mili- 
tary career,  and  before  the  end  of  1649  he  fled  to  France,  to  re- 
turn only  with  the  restitution  of  the  monarchy. 

In  England,  parliament  was  supreme.     Ireland  had  de- 


JOHN  J.  CUMMINGS,  M.  D.  97 

clared  for  Charles  II,  loyal  as  always  to  the  Stuarts.  Therefore, 
repudiating  the  terms  of  peace  of  '49,  the  parliament  decided 
to  subdue  Ireland.  England  had  already  felt  the  weight  of  the 
strong  hand  and  stern  will  of  Oliver  Cromwell,  and  accordingly, 
he  it  was,  who  was  chosen  for  this  task. 

With  eight  thousand  infantry,  four  thousand  cavalry,  sev- 
eral pieces  of  artillery,  and  twenty  thousand  pounds  in  money, 
he  landed  in  Ireland  Aug.  15,  1649,  and  then  began  a  series  of 
massacres  for  which  there  is  no  parallel  in  the  history  of  civil- 
ized nations. 

This  is  an  old  story  to  many  of  you — this  story  of  Crom- 
well 's  reigTi  of  terror  in  Ireland.  Many  of  you  have  heard  it  as 
children  from  your  mother's  lips,  and  many  of  you  can  go  back, 
in  memory,  every  foot  of  the  way,  as  we  follow  this  fanatical 
destroyer  on  his  desolate,  but  triumphant,  march  through  Ire- 
land. Cromwell's  command  in  all,  lasted  nine  months,  and  is 
remarkable  for  the  number  of  sieges  of  walled  towns,  crowded 
into  that  brief  period.  There  was  during  the  whole  time,  no 
great  field  battle,  like  Marston  Moor,  or  Benburb.  It  was  only 
a  campaign  of  seventeenth  century  cannon  against  mediaevel 
masonry. 

He  landed  at  Dublin  and  there  rested  until  Sept.  1,  1649. 
Leaving  there,  we  see  him  with  his  army  appearing  Sept.  3rd 
outside  the  walls  of  Drogheda.  The  town  was  fortified  and 
garrisoned  by  about  3000  men.  Cromwell  called  on  the  com- 
mander. Sir  Arthur  Ashton,  to  deliver  up  the  town  to  the  ser- 
vice of  the  English  parliament.  Eeceiving  no  satisfactory  re- 
ply, he  proceeded  September  9th,  with  his  guns,  to  beat  down 
the  defenses.  A  breech  in  the  wall  having  been  made,  an  as- 
sault was  ordered;  it  was  repulsed.  A  second  assault  was  like- 
wise unsuccessful,  then  Cromwell  himself  led  his  forces  for  the 
third  time.  Col.  Wall,  who  commanded  the  regiment  defend- 
ing the  trenches,  was  killed,  and  his  men,  without  a  leader,  be- 
came confused  and  were  driven  back. 

It  was  then  that  quarter  was  offered  and  accepted.  The 
town  was  finally  captured  and  by  Cromwell's  orders  neither 
man,  woman  or  child  was  to  be  spared.  Numerous  letters  of 
Cromwell's  still  in  existence,  show  where  he  ordered  the  inhab- 
itants to  be  put  to  the  sword,  though  he  had  a  way  of  giving  to 
God  credit  for  his  own  inhuman  cruelties.  In  one  letter  he 
says,  "I  wish  all  honest  hearts  may  give  the  glory  to  God 
alone,  to  whom  indeed  the  praise  of  tins  mercy  belongs." 

Passing  on  from  Drogheda,  he  went  north  to  Dundalk, 
thence  to  Newry,  and  Carlingford,  which  places  all  surrendered 
without  much  resistance.    The  lesson  of  Drogheda  had  not  been 


98  DESTRUCTION^  AND  DESOLATION 

in  vain.  Coleraine  surrendered  to  Sir  Charles  Coote,  who  im- 
itated Cromwell's  example  at  Drogheda  by  putting  the  garri- 
son to  the  sword. 

By  the  end  of  September,  1649,  every  important  place  in 
the  north,  Carrickfergus  excepted,  was  in  the  hands  of  parlia- 
ment. Eeturning  to  Dublin,  Cromwell  planned  his  campaign 
to  subdue  the  south. 

October  1,  1649,  he  appeared  before  Wexford,  which  had 
been  fortified  and  garrisoned.  He  laid  siege  to  the  place,  which 
made  a  stubborn  resistance  for  ten  days.  Through  the  treach- 
ery of  Captain  James  Stafford,  one  of  the  defenders*  the  army 
obtained  admission  to  the  town  and  drove  the  garrison  and  in- 
habitants to  the  market  place.  Crom-\i  ell's  letter  to  parliament 
says : — 

''When  they  were  come  into  the  market  place,  making  a 
stiff  resistance,  our  forces  broke  them  and  then  put  all  to  the 
sword  that  came  in  their  way.  I  believe,  in  all,  not  less  than 
two  thousand,  and  I  believe  not  twenty  of  yours  from  first  to 
last  of  the  siege."  Continuing,  he  relates  other  calamities,  such 
as  the  drowning  of  three  hundred  more,  who  in  trying  to  es- 
cape by  boat,  met  their  death  in  the  harbor,  and  concludes  by 
saying  piously,  "Thus  it  hath  pleased  God  to  give  unto  your 
hands  this  other  mercy. — Drogheda  was  the  first — for  which, 
as  for  all,  we  pray  God  may  have  all  the  glory.  Indeed  your  in- 
struments are  poor  and  weak  and  can  do  nothing,  but  through 
believing, — and  that  is  the  gift  of  God  also." 

There  exists  until  this  day  in  Wexford,  the  traditions  of 
the  awful  proceedings  on  the  day  of  this  conquest.  One  states 
that  three  hundred  women  were  put  to  death  in  the  public 
square.  They  had  flocked  around  the  great  cross  which  stood 
there,  in  the  hopes  that  Christian  soldiers  would  be  so  far 
softened  by  the  sight  of  that  emblem  of  mercy,  as  to  spare  the 
lives  of  unresisting  women.  But  the  victors,  enraged  at  such 
superstition,  and  perhaps  regarding  their  presence  there  as 
a  proof  that  they  were  Catholics, — and  therefore  fit  objects  of 
their  zeal, — rushed  upon  them  and  put  them  to  death. 

The  murder  of  Irish  women  was  nothing  new  to  the  Puritan 
army.  After  the  battle  of  Naseby,  one  hundred  females,  some 
of  them  of  distinguished  rank,  were  put  to  the  sword.  In  one 
day  eighty  w^omen  and  children,  some  infants  at  the  mother's 
breast,  were  precipitated  over  the  bridge  at  Linlithgow,  and  if 
any  struggled  to  the  bank  of  the  river,  they  were  knocked  on 
the  head  or  thrust  in  again  by  the  soldiery.  Their  crime  was 
being  the  wives  and  children  of  Irish  soldiers  who  had  served 
under  Montrose. 


JOHN  J.  CUMMINGS,  M.  D.  99 

Thus,  with  the  word  of  God  on  his  lips,  and  his  two-edged 
sword  in  his  hands,  did  this  ''plague  of  England"  hew  his  way 
through  Ireland.  Everywhere,  the  people  terror  stricken  and 
helpless,  gave  up  their  cities  or  sent  word  that  they  wished  to 
treat  with  the  parliament.  In  quick  succession  after  Wexford, 
was  the  surrender  of  Eoss;  an  attempt  on  Waterford,  after- 
wards abandoned  in  November,  Dungarvan,  Kinsale,  Bandon 
and  Cork  in  December.  Fethard,  Callan  and  Cashel  in  January 
and  February.  Carrick  and  Kilkenny  in  March,  and  Clonmel 
early  in  May. 

The  last  act  of  Cromwell's  campaign  was  the  siege  of  Clon- 
mell,  where  the  Irish  gathered  for  a  last  stand.  Clonmell  was 
defended  by  Hugh  O'Neil,  nephew  of  Owen  Roe,  with  about 
fifteen  hundred  men.  For  about  two  months  Cromwell  laid 
siege  to  the  place.  He  made  several  attempts  to  take  it  by 
storm,  but  was'  repulsed  each  time  with  a  heavy  loss.  After  a 
final  assault  in  the  month  of  May,  where  he  lost  twenty-five 
hundred  men,  he  withdrew,  but  O'Neil,  having  exhausted  his 
ammunition,  retired  during  the  night  with  his  army  to  Water- 
ford.  The  town  surrendered  next  day,  Cromwell  being  unaware 
of  0 'Neil's  departure,  granting  favorable  terms  which,  strange 
to  relate,  were  not  violated. 

Cromwell  returned  to  England  May  29,  1650,  leaving  his 
son-in-law.  Sir  Henry  Ireton,  in  command  of  the  parliamentary 
army.  He  was  a  worthy  successor.  The  following  August  Ire- 
ton  captured  Waterford  and  Duncanno,  and  soon  afterwards 
Athlone  and  Sligo,  leaving  only  Limerick  and  Galway  to  the 
Confederates. 

Early  in  the  summer  of  1651,  Ireton  laid  siege  to  Limerick, 
commanded  by  Hugh  O'Neil  and  Gen,  Purcell.  The  town  was 
divided  within  itself  by  several  factions.  The  plague  was  rag- 
ing and  the  inhabitants  were  dying  in  the  streets.  Through  the 
treachery  of  some  of  them  the  town  was  compelled  to  surrender 
October  27th,  1651.    Ireton  died  of  the  plague. 

The  success  of  Cromwell 's  campaign  was  assured  to  a  great 
extent  by  the  fact  that  the  Catholic  armies  were  left  practically 
without  a  leader  of  their  own.  In  the  third  month  of  Crom- 
well's  occupation  came  the  report  of  the  death  of  their  great 
general,  Owen  Roe  O'Neil.  Wlien  O'Neil  heard  of  the  news  of 
the  taking  of  Drogheda  he  swore  a  great  oath  that  ''he  would 
retake  it  if  he  had  to  storm  hell  to  do  it, ' '  and  gaining  the  aid 
and  support  of  the  Royalist  army  under  Ormond,  was  on  his 
way  south  to  meet  the  latter,  when  he  wa  struck  down  by  a 
fatal  illness.  None  of  his  biographers  have  given  a  detailed 
account  of  the  disease  which  ended  his  life,  but  popular  tradi- 


100  DESTRUCTION  AND  DESOLATION 

tion  has  claimed  that  O'Neil  met  his  death  by  poison,  from  a 
pair  of  boots  presented  to  him  by  one  of  the  Phmketts  of  Louth. 
It  was  of  hngering  operation  and  served  to  paralyze  his  ener- 
gies. For  some  time  he  battled  against  the  disease,  hoping  he 
might  so  far  recover  as  to  be  able  to  lead  his  army. 

From  Deny,  where  he  was  first  attacked  in  August,  he 
advanced  slowly  and  painfully  southward,  borne  on  a  litter, 
and  finally  ''died  in  Our  Lord  the  6th  of  Nov.,  1649,  a  true  child 
of  the  Catholic  religion. ' '  In  the  chancel  of  a  Franciscan  Abbey 
his  body  was  interred. 

No  greater  calamity  than  the  death  of  O'Neil  could  have 
come  to  the  Irish  Nation  at  this  time.  He  was  the  only  man, 
who  by  reason  of  native  ability  and  training,  was  able  to  cope 
with  Cromwell,  and  the  consciousness  of  a  great  national  loss 
never  struck  deeper,  than  amid  the  crash  of  the  walled  cities 
and  towns  of  Leinster  and  Munster. 

Many  of  his  clansmen  did  not  believe  that  he  could  die  at 
a  time  when  he  was  so  much  needed, — some  deeming  that  *'God 
in  His  Divine  clemency,  would  not  deal  so  strait  with  this  poor 
nation,  as  to  bereave  them  of  this,  their  only  champion." 

And  all  over  Ireland  the  prayers  and  wailings  of  the  peo- 
ple were  offered  up  for  the  man  who  would  have  stood  between 
them  and  their  doom.  Whoever  could  understand  the  deepest 
depth  of  Irish  grief,  the  mingling  of  love,  wrath  and  despair 
following  the  loss  of  a  leader,  will  find  it  all  compressed  in  the 
thirty  odd  lines  of  Davis'  "Lament,"  with  its  closing  wail: 

''Your  troubles  are  all  over. 

You're  at  rest  with  God  on  high; 

But  we're  slaves  and  we're  orphans, 
Owen!     Why  did  you  die? 

After  a  siege  of  nine  months  Galway  fell  May  12,  1652,  and 
the  war  was  practically  over.  Charles  Fleetwood,  Cromwell's 
son-in-law,  was  appointed  Lord  Deputy.  He  instituted  a  High 
Court  of  Justice  to  punish  all  concerned  in  the  uprising  of  161:1. 
About  200  were  executed,  among  them  Sir  Phelini  0  'Neil. 

The  war  was  now  ended,  but  for  a  long  time  there  had  been 
a  terrible  pestilence  raging  over  the  country.  Famine  came  to 
help  the  work  of  destruction,  and  for  several  years  these  two 
scourges  spread  death,  desolation  and  misery  everywhere.  But 
the  worst  was  yet  to  come.  Parliament  declared  the  whole  of 
Ireland  forfeited.  The  Irish  troops  were  not  only  to  be  dis- 
armed, but  were  to  be  put  out  of  the  way.  Hence,  they  were 
permitted  to  take  service  in  foreign  armies  at  peace  with  the 


JOHN  J.   CU'MMINGS,   M.   D.  101 

commonwealth.    Those  who  did  not  voluntarily  take  such  ser- 
vice were  forced  into  exile. 

Nor  were  these  forced  exiles  restricted  to  the  warrior  class. 
' '  The  Lord  Protector, ' '  says  Prendergast,  ' '  applied  to  the  Lord 
Henry  Cromwell — then  Major-General  of  the  forces  in  Ireland, 
to  engage  soldiers  and  to  secure  a  thousand  young  Irish  girls 
to  be  shipped  to  Jamaica.  Henry  Cromwell  answered  that 
there  would  be  no  difficulty,  only  that  force  must  be  used  in 
taking  them;  and  he  suggested  the  addition  of  fifteen  hundred 
or  two  thousand  boys,  of  from  twelve  to  fourteen  years  of  age. 
The  numbers  finally  fixed  were  one  thousand  boys  and  one 
thousand  girls."  The  total  number  of  children  disposed  of  in 
this  way  from  1652  to  1655  has  been  variously  estimated  at 
from  twenty  thousand  to  one  hundred  thousand.  The  British 
government  was  at  last  compelled  to  interfere  and  put  a  stop  to 
the  infamous  traffic,  when  the  mere  Irish,  proving  too  scarce, 
the  agents  were  not  sufficiently  discriminating  in  their  choice, 
but  shipped  ofi^  English  children  also  to  the  tobacco  island. 

CROMWELLIAN  SETTLEMENTS 

An  act  of  settlement  was  passed  which  provided  that  all 
the  Irish,  except  those  of  the  laboring  classes,  were  to  be  trans- 
planted to  Connaught  before  May  1st,  1654.  Any  of  those  or- 
dered away — young  or  old — men  or  women,  found  in  any  of  the 
three  provinces  after  this  date  might  be  killed  by  whoever  met 
them.  Moreover,  they  were  not  permitted  to  live  within  four 
miles  of  the  seas  or  of  any  town,  or  within  two  miles  of  the 
Shannon.  Connaught  is  famed  as  being  the  wildest  and  most 
barren  province  of  Ireland,  and  at  this  time  it  had  been  com- 
pletely devastated  by  the  war.  Hence,  this  act  was  intended  to 
dispose  of  half  a  million  human  beings  destined  in  the  minds  of 
its  projectors  to  die  off  and  leave  the  whole  island  in  the  pos- 
session of  the  ^' godly." 

Cromwell  died  Sept.  3,  1658,  and  twenty  months  after- 
wards Charles  II  returned  to  England  and  the  monarchy  was 
restored. 

THE  RESTORATION 

The  Irish  expected  much  from  the  restored  king,  who  was 
at  heart  a  Catholic,  and  for  whom  they  had  fought  and  suffered. 
They  expected  at  least  the  restitution  of  their  lands,  but  Charles 
wholly  neglected  his  friends,  while  providing  for  his  enemies. 
He  re-established  the  Anglican  church.    The  act  of  uniformity 


102  DESTRUCTION  AND  DESOLATION 

was  enforced  against  the  Presbyterians  and  they  suffered  a 
short,  but  severe  persecution. 

At  first  Catholics  were  given  some  freedom,  but  later  par- 
liament passed  oppresive  measures,  and  their  condition  became 
pitiful. 

James  II,  a  Catholic,  came  to  the  throne  in  1685  and  de- 
termined to  restore  Catholicism.  He  was  so  arbitrary,  however, 
that  he  aroused  the  whole  Protestant  population  of  England 
and  Ireland  against  him.  He  appointed  Richard  Talbot,  a  zeal- 
ous Catholic,  whom  he  had  made  Earl  of  Tyrconnell,  Lord 
Lieutenant.  Talbot  dismissed  Protestants  from  the  army  and 
civil  offices  and  put  Catholics  in  their  places.  The  dismissed 
Protestants  fled  to  Holland  and  enlisted  in  the  service  of  Wil- 
liam, Prince  of  Orange. 

The  oppressive  measures  to  which  James  II  resorted  in 
England,  and  his  encroachments  on  the  liberty  of  his  subjects, 
brought  about  in  England,  the  revolution  of  1688.  William, 
Prince  of  Orange,  the  nephew  and  son-in-law  of  the  King,  was 
invited  to  take  possession  of  the  English  throne.  He  accepted 
and  landed  in  England  Nov.  5,  1688.  Six  weeks  later  James  IT 
fled  to  France. 

In  England  and  among  the  Protestants  in  Ireland,  William 
was  hailed  as  a  deliverer,  but  the  Irish  Catholics,  in  spite  of  all 
they  had  suffered  from  the  Stuarts,  took  the  side  of  James. 
Tyrconnell  headed  the  adherents  of  the  King,  and  then  began 
the  so-called  "Jacobite"  wars. 

Tyrconnell  did  all  in  his  power  to  strengthen  the  position 
of  his  royal  commander.  He  met  with  no  opposition  except  in 
Ulster  which,  of  course,  was  strongly  Protestant.  The  people 
of  Derry  declared  for  William  and  Mary  as  sovereigns  of  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland.  James  had  waited  at  the  Court  of  Louis 
XIV  of  France  until  assured  of  the  Catholic  support  of  Ire- 
land. Then  with  a  small  French  army  and  a  number  of  Irish 
exiles, — chief  among  whom  was  Sarsfield, — he  landed  at  Kin- 
sale  in  Cork,  March  12,  1689. 

He  proceeded  to  Dublin,  then  with  his  army  to  Derry, 
where  he  expected  to  be  received  with  open  arms.  He  was 
greatly  surprised  when  the  inhabitants  began  to  fire  upon  him, 
and  returned  to  Dublin,  leaving  the  siege  in  the  hands  of  two  of 
his  generals. 

April  18,  1689,  the  siege  of  Derry,  one  of  the  most  famous 
in  Irish  or  English  history,  began.  Great  bravery  was  dis- 
played on  both  sides  and  as  starvation  was  about  to  compel  the 
surrender  of  the  town,  the  relief  ships  of  William  arrived  and 
ran  past  the  blockades,  July  28,  1689.    Three  days  later  Hamil- 


JOHN  J.  CUMMINGS,   M.  D.  103 

ton,  commander  of  the  Jacobite  forces,  seeing  that  all  danger 
of  famine  was  over,  withdrew  his  army  and  the  town  was  saved 
after  a  siege  of  one  hundred  and  five  days. 

The  siege  of  Derry  was  but  the  beginning  of  the  struggle 
between  William  of  Orange  and  the  rightful  King,  James  II. 
William's  position  in  England,  being  now  secure,  he  sent  the 
Duke  of  Schomberg  to  Ireland,  with  fifteen  thousand  men.  He 
captured  Carrickfergus  after  a  siege  of  a  week. 

June  1-lth,  1690,  King  William,  as  he  had  been  proclaimed, 
came  to  Ireland,  to  lead  his  army  in  person.  His  troops  were 
largely  made  up  of  continental  veterans,  excellent  soldiers,  from 
Holland,  Denmark,  Sweden  and  Prussia. 

James,  at  the  head  of  twenty-six  thousand  men,  poorly 
drilled  and  miserably  armed,  had  taken  a  position  at  the  village 
of  Oldbridge,  on  the  south  bank  of  the  Boyne,  three  miles  above 
Drogheda. 

BATTLE  OF  THE  BOYNE 

William,  with  an  army  of  50,000  men,  5,000  of  whom  were 
cavalry,  arrived  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Boyne,  June  29th, 
1690.  The  next  day  an  artillery  duel  took  place  between  the 
two  armies,  William  losing  greatly  thereby. 

During  the  night,  James,  already  certain  of  defeat,  sent 
all  but  six  of  his  cannon  back  to  Dublin  and  made  preparations 
for  his  own  flight.  The  battle  was  resumed  next  day.  Wil- 
liam commanded  the  cavalry  on  the  left  wing,  the  elder  Schom- 
berg the  center,  and  the  younger  Schomberg  the  right.  William 
attempted  to  cross  the  Boyne  at  Slane,  but  was  repeatedly  re- 
pulsed by  Arthur  0 'Neil's  horse.  His  artillery  finally  cleared 
the  way  and  the  army  crossed  the  river,  under  its  protection. 
The  Irish  army  was  practically  without  cannon. 

So  well  did  the  Irish  troops  fight  that  Schomberg 's  body- 
guard was  cut  to  pieces  and  the  commander  killed.  The  center 
of  William 's  army  was  being  beaten  back,  when  crossing  lower 
down  with  18  squadrons  of  cavalry,  he  fiercely  attacked  the 
riglit  flank  of  the  Irish  army  and  thus  turned  possible  defeat 
into  certain  victory.  The  Irish  troops  outnumbered  two  to  one 
and  led  by  a  coward,  as  the  King  proved  himself  to  be,  fought 
valiantly  and  retreated  in  good  order  to  Dublin,  and  later  to 
Limerick. 

James  fled  from  the  battlefield  to  Dublin,  thence  to  Water- 
ford,  where  he  embarked  for  France,  bringing  the  first  news  of 
his  own  defeat.     And,  so,  ends  Ireland's  story  for  eight-two 


Hon.  Philip  J.  O'Connell 


Philip  J.  O'Connell  was  born  in  Worcester,  Mass., 
December  18,  1870.  He  is  the  son  of  Philip  O'Connell 
and  Ellen  (Skehan)  O'Connell,  both  of  whom  were  born 
in  Ireland.  After  completing  his  studies  in  the  Wor- 
cester public  schools,  Mr.  O'Connell  attended  the  Wor- 
cester Classical  High  School,  and  graduated  in  1889. 
In  1895  he  graduated  from  the  Boston  University  Law 
School,  receiving  the  degree  LL.B.,  Magna  Cum  Laude. 
He  was  admitted  to  the  Massachusetts  Bar  in  1895. 

Mr.  O'Connell  served  as  a  member  of  the  Worces- 
ter Common  Council  in  1896,  1897  and  1898.  Was  elect- 
ed a  member  of  the  Worcester  Board  of  Aldermen  for 
1899  and  1900,  and  in  1901  was  Mayor  of  Worcester. 
For  the  past  five  years  he  has  been  a  Director  of  the 
Worcester  Free  Public  Library. 

For  nearly  a  score  of  years  Mr.  0  'Connell  has  been 
identified  with  the  A.  0.  H.  He  became  a  member  of 
Division  3,  A.  0.  H.,  of  his  native  city  in  1895,  and  has 
served  as  vice  president  and  president.  October  18, 
1904,  he  was  married  to  Katherine  T.  Power  of  Phila- 
delphia, daughter  of  Lawrence  Power  and  Katherine 
(Magennis)  Power,  both  former  residents  of  Worces- 
ter. 


Jrnm  tlj^  Ingn^  to  tJj^  Art  0f  tlj^  llninn 


1690—1800 

BY 

HON.    PHILIP  J.   O'CONNELL 


The  one  hundred  and  ten  years  from  the  Battle  of  the  Boyne 
in  1690,  to  the  Act  of  the  Union  in  1800,  was  one  of  the  most 
eventful  and  saddest  periods  in  Ireland's  mournful  history.  It 
witnessed  the  defeat  and  surrender  of  the  army  of  King  James, 
and  the  violation  of  the  Treaty  of  Limerick. 

During  this  period  the  penal  laws  were  enforced  until  Ire- 
land became  almost  a  nation  of  paupers  and  slaves.  It  saw  the 
rise  and  growth  of  the  Volunteer  movement,  and  the  successful 
struggle  for  a  free  and  independent  Parliament,  and  before  its 
close  it  witnessed  the  destruction  of  the  Independence  of  Parlia- 
ment. 

In  the  limited  time  at  my  disposal  tonight,  it  will  be  impos- 
sible to  adequately  treat  of  all  these  important  events,  and  I 
<?an  only  hope  to  briefly  allude  to  them. 

If  we  are  to  appreciate  the  political  history  of  Ireland  for 
the  last  one  hundred  years,  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  have  a 
more  or  less  intimate  knowledge  of  the  events  of  which  I  am  to 
talk,  and  in  order  that  we  may  better  understand  the  beginning 
of  the  history  of  this  time,  it  is  necessary  to  go  back  a  few  years. 

In  1685  James,  the  Second,  ascended  the  throne  of  Eng- 
land. It  was  an  age  of  deep  religious  prejudices,  when  the  fate 
of  the  English  nation  seemed  to  depend  upon  the  religious  af- 
filiation of  the  heir  to  the  throne.  Charles,  the  Second,  the  im- 
mediate predecessor  of  James,  was  his  older  brother.  He  was  a 
Protestant  king,  although  he  was  a  Catholic  at  heart,  and  had 
little  s^mi])athy  with  Catholic  persecution.  James,  the  Second, 
was  a  Catholic.  When  he  ascended  the  throne,  there  was  but 
little  opposition  on  the  part  of  the  English  peo-ple.  If  Charles 
liad  died  a  few  days  earlier,  there  is  little  doubt  that  James' 


106        FROM  THE  BOYNE  TO  THE  ACT  OF  THE  UNION 

religion  would  have  prevented  him  from  becoming  king.  But 
the  English  were  weary  with  the  long  civil  war  between  Parlia- 
ment and  the  King,  and  did  not  want  a  repetition  of  it.  If  they 
had  thought  that  the  accession  of  James  to  the  throne  would 
have  meant  a  long  line  of  Catholic  rulers,  it  is  probable  that  they 
would  have  attempted  to  prevent  it,  but  James,  at  ihis  time,, 
was  childless,  and  the  hope  of  having  an  heir  to  the  throne  was 
already  abandoned. 

If  James  had  acted  cautiously  and  tactfully,  he  might  have 
obtained  the  love  and  sympathy  of  the  English  people  and  jus- 
tice and  liberty  for  his  co-religionists.  He  had  been  warned  by 
the  Pope  to  act  with  moderation  and  within  the  English  con- 
stitution, but  he  absolutely  disregarded  this  advice.  Though  it 
was  forbidden  by  law,  he  insisted  on  mass  being  said  publicly 
at  the  palace;  he  appointed  many  Catholics  to  high  civil  offices; 
he  suspended  all  penal  statutes  against  Catholics  and  abrogated 
all  religious  tests  for  qualification  to  civil  office,  and  defied  Par- 
liament. 

The  majority  of  the  English  were  greatly  annoyed  at  the 
toleration  and  favor  shown  the  C^atholics  on  the  part  of  King 
James.  As  a  result  the  Protestants  of  England  invited  William 
of  Orange,  who  was  the  son-in-law  of  King  James,  to  come  over 
to  England  '*to  defend  the  Protestant  religion  and  the  liberty 
of  the  English  people."  In  1688,  William  came  to  England 
with  a  large  army  at  his  back.  William  had  secured  aid  from 
the  Netherlands  by  persuading  them  that  James  intended  to 
make  England  Catholic  and  that  with  the  aid  of  France,  also  a 
Catholic  nation,  he  would  eventually  enslave  the  Netherlands. 
He  received  support  from  Spain  on  the  ground  that  he  was. 
raising  an  army  to  curb  the  power  of  France. 

After  William  landed  in  England,  King  James  found  him- 
self deserted,  even  by  his  closest  friends.  He  was  naturally  a 
weak  man  and  did  not  have  courage  enough  to  fight,  and  in  a 
short  time,  he  was  a  fugitive  and  an  exile  in  France. 

When  James  ascended  the  throne  of  England  the  Crom- 
wellian  planters  in  Ireland,  who  were  then  in  possession  through 
spoliation  and  confiscation  of  most  of  the  land  of  the  island, 
viewed  with  terror,  the  reign  of  a  Catholic  king.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  Catholics  whose  ancestors  had  been  deprived  of  their 
land,  regarded  these  colonists  as  mere  plunderers,  and  were 
hopeful  that  through  a  Catholic  king,  their  wrongs  would  be 
righted  and  their  lands  restored  to  them. 

Immediately  after  James  became  king,  he  directed  the 
Viceroy  in  Ireland  to  inform  the  Catholics  that  they  were  free 


HON.   PHILIP  J.   O'COXNELL  107 

to  practice  their  religion  and  should  have  the  same  opportun- 
ity of  appointment  to  office  as  their  Protestant  neighbors. 

Colonel  Richard  Talbot  was  appointed  commander-in-chief 
of  the  Irish  army.  He  was  a  great  favorite  with  the  king,  who 
created  him  Earl  of  Tyrconnell.  The  Earl  was  the  champion  of 
the  Catholics,  and  having  secured  the  control  of  the  army,  he 
started  to  reform  it,  according  to  his  own  ideas.  Many  Catho- 
lics were  appointed  to  important  places  in  the  army  and  many 
Protestants  were  dismissed  by  him.  The  Irish  Protestant* 
were  immediately  filled  with  alarm  over  the  actions  of  Tyrcon- 
nell. So  great,  however,  was  the  favor  in  which  Tyrconnell  was 
held  by  King  James,  that  he  was  appointed  Viceroy  of  Ireland, 
and  immediately  began  to  reform  the  civil  government,  as  he 
had  the  army. 

Prior  to  the  advent  of  Tyrconnell,  all  influence  and  power 
in  Ireland  were  in  the  hands  of  these  colonists.  The  tables  were 
now  turned.  The  army  was  no  longer  exclusively  Protestant 
and  the  Viceroy  was  their  enemy.  "While  it  does  not  appear  that 
the  Catholics  abused  the  power  that  had  come  to  them,  yet  it  is 
not  unreasonable  to  suppose  that  they  made  retaliations  for  the 
injuries  which  they  had  received. 

In  Ulster  the  Protestants  were  very  strong.  The  Protest- 
ant militia  there,  who  were  supposed  to  have  been  disarmed  by 
Tyrconnell,  had  actually  retained  their  arms.  In  a  short  time 
Enniskillen  expelled  the  Catholics  from  the  town,  and  when 
Tyrconnell  sent  a  force  to  subdue  them,  the  militia  of  Ennis- 
killen defeated  the  Viceroy's  troops.  In  Derry  the  same  spirit 
of  defiance  to  Tyrconnell  was  shown. 

When  William  ascended  the  throne  and  had  been  pro- 
claimed king,  he  found  among  his  most  ardent  supporters  the 
Irish  Protestants.  They  hailed  him  as  a  champion  and  in  many 
counties  associations  were  formed  to  fight  his  battles. 

The  Prince  of  Orange,  in  his  very  first  proclamation,  an- 
nounced that  he  was  ready  to  pardon  all  Irishmen  who  had  laid 
down  their  arms.  Tyrconnell  knew  that  if  he  deserted  to  Wil- 
liam, his  co-religionists  would  regard  him  as  a  traitor.  He  stood 
firm  for  King  James,  and  the  war  in  Ireland  between  the  ''Wil- 
liamites,"  the  followers  of  King  William,  and  the  "Jacobites," 
the  followers  of  King  James,  began. 

In  1689  the  siege  of  Derry  began.  Just  before  this  King 
James  returned  from  France  and  took  charge  of  the  Irish  army. 
When  James  landed  at  Kinsale,  he  brought  with  him  a  great 
many  French  officers,  including  Colonel  Sarsfield  of  the  Irish 
Brigade,  who  had  already  distinguished  himself  with   great 


108        FROM  THE  BOYNE  TO  THE  ACT  OF  THE  UNION 

ability  in  the  French  army.  The  siege  of  Derry  was  unsuccess- 
ful on  the  part  of  James  and  he  returned  from  Derry  to  Dublin, 
and  called  together  the  Irish  Parliament.  This  Parliament  was 
overwhelmingly  Catholic.  Most  of  them  had  had  little  experi- 
ence in  legislation,  yet  it  is  pleasing  to  recall  that  all  of  its  acts 
were  just,  and  more  pleasing  than  any  other,  was  the  bill  which 
granted  liberty  of  conscience  to  all  Irishmen. 

While  the  siege  of  Derry  was  taking  place,  fighting  was  go- 
ing on  in  many  places  in  Ulster,  and  in  August,  William's  great- 
est general,  Schomberg,  who  had  been  a  marshal  of  France, 
with  twenty  thousand  men,  landed  at  Belfast,  and  the  conflict, 
which  hitherto  had  been  between  Irishmen,  now  became  a  great 
international  struggle. 

King  James  with  an  army  of  about  twenty-three  thousand 
men,  many  of  them  French  soldiers,  started  for  Drogheda  to 
meet  General  Schomberg,  and  the  army  of  William.  Schomberg 
was  not  prosecuting  the  war  as  vigorously  as  King  William  de- 
sired, and  he  decided  to  go  to  Ireland  himself  and  take  com- 
mand. 

At  this  time,  his  force  was  greatly  increased  by  the  addi- 
tion of  seven  thousand  Danes,  and  many  other  English  anc? 
Dutch  regiments  came  over  to  Ireland  also.     William's  armr 
numbered  between  thirty-six  thousand  and  forty-eight  thou 
sand  men,  half  of  whom  were  foreigners  of  different  nationali 
ties. 

Then  quickly  followed  the  Battle  of  the  Boyne  on  the  firs^ 
day  of  July,  1690.  The  army  of  James  was  defeated  and  retreat 
ed  to  Limerick.  The  day  following,  Drogheda  surrendered  to 
William.  If  he  had  pursued  the  Irish  army,  he  might  have  de- 
stroyed it,  but  he  was  extremely  cautious,  as  he  knew  that  the 
Irish  army  had  fought  well  at  the  Bo^^le,  and  he  thought  that 
the  army  would  probably  recruit  its  strength,  as  it  proceeded 
toward  the  south.  He  was  afraid  that  at  the  Shannon,  the  situ- 
ation might  be  reversed.  He  gradually  moved  southward  and 
captured  Wexford,  Kilkenny,  Clonmell,  Waterford  and  many 
other  places.  On  the  9th  day  of  August,  1690,  he  left  his  army 
outside  the  walls  of  Limerick,  and  the  siege  began.  The  pros- 
pect of  defending  Limerick  against  as  large  an  army  as  Wil- 
liam's, was  not  hopeful.  The  leaders  of  the  Irish  army,  espec- 
ially General  Lauzun,  a  French  general,  and  Tyrconnell,  both 
wanted  to  make  peace  with  William.  Lauzun  was  anxious  to 
get  back  to  France.  He  had  no  desire  for  an  Irish  campaign; 
many  of  the  soldiers  were  sick,  and  the  defences  of  Limerick 
were  very  poor.    Lauzun  declared  that  ' '  the  City  could  be  tak- 


HON.   PHILIP  J.   O'COXNELL  109 

en  with  roasted  apples."  France  would  give  no  more  aid  to  the 
Irish  army.  After  James  arrived  in  Paris  he  reported  that  the 
Irish  army  had  displayed  cowardice  at  the  Boyne,  and,  instead 
of  sending  aid,  France  ordered  her  troops  in  the  Irish  army  to 
come  home.  Many  of  the  other  officers  wanted  to  make  peace 
with  William,  but  the  rank  and  file  were  determined  to  fight  it 
ont.  Sarsfield  in  particular  insisted  on  fighting.  He  enjoyed 
the  respect  of  the  Irish  more  than  any  other  living  Irishman  of 
his  time,  and  had  great  influence  with  them.  In  France  and  in 
England  he  had  displayed  great  skill  and  bravery,  and  his  of- 
ficers were  anxious  for  him  to  be  second  in  command  only  to 
Tyrconnell.  The  latter  did  not  want  to  remain  at  Limerick,  and 
soon  followed  Lauzun  to  Galway,  leaving  General  Boisseleau^ 
a  French  officer,  as  governor  of  the  city. 

William  demanded  the  surrender  of  the  town,  but  Boisse- 
leau  refused  to  surrender,  and  the  struggle  began.  Sarsfield, 
with  great  courage  and  daring,  with  a  small  force,  made  a  bril- 
liant sortie  and  destroyed  a  convoy  which  was  coming  to  aid 
William's  army  and  captured  a  large  number  of  guns  and  a  big 
supply  of  ammunition. 

In  a  short  time  the  guns  of  the  English  began  to  play  on  the 
city.  They  made  steady  progress  and  soon  effected  a  breach  in 
the  walls.  The  fighting  was  terrific.  The  people  of  Limerick 
were  a  heroic  race,  and,  rather  than  have  the  English  capture 
the  city,  they  preferred  to  perish  beneath  its  ruins.  When 
their  ammunition  was  gone,  they  armed  themselves  with  sticks 
and  stones  and  broken  bottles  and  implements  of  every  kind 
and  threw  themselves  in  a  hand-to-hand  contest  upon  the  ene- 
my, as  they  advanced  through  the  walls.  The  women  of  the 
town  were  among  the  bravest.  Many  of  them  fell  in  battle,  and 
eventually  the  Irish  army  under  Boisseleau,  drove  the  English 
army  back.  On  the  oOtli  of  the  month  William  raised  the  siege 
and  leaving  the  Irish  government  in  charge  of  two  Lord  Jus- 
tices, set  sail  for  England. 

In  the  meantime,  Lauzun  and  Tyrconnell,  with  the  French 
troops,  went  back  to  France.  While  the  Siege  of  Limerick  was 
going  on,  the  English  captured  all  the  strong  places  in  Munster, 
except  Limerick,  but,  as  winter  was  approaching,  military  oper- 
ations ceased. 

The  last  campaign  began  late  in  the  year  of  1691.  During 
the  winter  the  troops  at  Limerick  were  half  starved,  jDoorly 
armed  and  almost  naked,  but  France  soon  sent  a  fleet  with 
stores  and  provisions,  but  no  soldiers. 

General  St.  Ruth  came  over,  however,  to  take  supreme 


110        FROM  THE  BOYNE  TO  THE  ACT  OF  THE  UNION 

command  of  the  Irish  army.  The  campaign  opened  in  June, 
1691,  at  Athlone,  which  after  a  most  obstinate  defense  was  cap- 
tured by  the  English.  St.  Euth,  then  in  command  of  the  Irish 
army,  retreated  to  Aughrim,  where  the  linal  battle  of  the  war 
wa's  fought  on  Sunday,  July  12,  1691.  The  English  were  super- 
ior in  numbers,  and  especially  so  in  arms  and  artillery.  All 
morning  the  priests  in  the  Irish  camp  were  kept  busy.  Mass 
and  prayers  were  offered  up  for  victory;  sermons  were  preach- 
ed, in  which  the  soldiers  were  urged  in  the  name  of  God,  to  stand 
firm  for  their  altars  and  their  homes.  All  knew  it  was  the  last 
great  stand.  Defeat  meant  more  confiscations,  more  penal 
laws,  churches  closed,  education  denied,  priests  and  the  school- 
masters outlawed;  it  meant  poverty,  slavery  and  exile. 

On  the  other  hand,  victory  meant  security  for  their  prop- 
erty, recovery  of  the  lands  they  had  lost,  the  right  to  live  in 
peace  in  their  own  country,  to  worship  at  their  own  altars.  It 
wuuld  revenge  the  Boyne  and  Athlone.  With  such  hopes  and 
fears  as  these  the  soldiers  prepared  for  battle.  St.  Ruth  was 
killed  at  a  critical  moment,  and  after  a  severe  contest,  the  Irish 
were  finally-  defeated  with  a  loss  of  four  thousand  men.  The 
great  bulk  of  the  Irish  army  in  command  of  Sarsfield,  then 
went  back  to  Limerick  a  second  time.  Many  of  the  officers 
wanted  to  surrender,  but  Sarsfield  was  determined  to  fight  it 
out.  France  was  expected  to  send  fresh  supplies.  King  Wil- 
liam, however,  was  anxious  for  j^eace,  and  it  was  not  long  before 
General  Ginkle,  in  command  of  the  English  army,  comj^letely 
surrounded  the  city  of  Limerick.  Sarsfield,  finding  himself  con- 
fronted by  treachery  and  disaster,  lost  heart,  and  negotiations 
of  surrender  were  opened  on  the  24th  of  September,  and  the 
Treaty  of  Limerick  was  signed  October  16th,  1691.  It  was 
signed  by  the  Lord  Justices  and  General  Ginkle  for  the  Eng- 
lish, and  by  Sarsfield  and  other  officers  for  the  Irish. 

In  this  treaty  it  was  stipulated  that  the  Catholics  should 
enjoy  such  privileges  as  were  consistent  with  the  laws  of  Ire- 
land, or  as  they  enjoyed  under  the  reign  of  Charles,  the  Second; 
that  the  king  was  to  summons  a  Parliament  in  Ireland  to  pro- 
vide the  Catholics  with  such  further  security  as  might  preserve 
them  from  disturbance  on  account  of  their  religion.  The  inhab- 
itants of  Limerick  and  other  garrisons,  still  under  arms,  and  all 
under  their  piotection,  and  all  soldiers  and  officers  who  were 
not  prisoners  of  war,  and  all  merchants  who  had  left  the  coun- 
try and  who  returned  within  eight  months,  if  they  submitted, 
were  to  get  back  the  estates,  which  were  held  by  them  under  the 
reign  of  Charles,  the  Second.    They  were  also  to  be  permitted 


HON.   PHILIP  J.  O'CONNELL  111 

to  exercise  all  trades  and  professions  as  in  the  reign  of  James, 
the  Second,  on  taking  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  King  William. 
In  the  military  articles  of  the  Treaty,  all  families  who  wanted 
to  leave  the  comitiy  were  to  be  permitted  to  do  so,  but  were  not 
to  be  permitted  to  settle  in  either  Scotland  or  England.  All  of- 
ficers and  soldiers  were  to  be  permitted  to  enter  French  ser- 
vice, and  they  were  to  be  sent  free  to  France  in  English  ships. 

Sarsfield  was  anxious  to  enlist  the  soldiers  of  the  Irish 
army  in  the  service  of  France,  while  General  Ginkle  attempted 
to  get  them  for  the  English  army.  Twelve  thousand  of  the  Irish 
soldiers  promised  to  go  with  Sarsfield  to  France,  while  Ginkle 
only  succeeded  in  getting  a  thousand  to  enlist  in  the  English 
army.  One  half  of  the  Irish  soldiers  who  had  promised  Sars- 
field to  go,  soon  left  for  France,  and  thus  the  ' '  flight  of  the  wild 
geese,"  as  they  were  called,  was  considerably  increased.  In 
November,  on  the  return  of  the  ships  from  France,  the  remain- 
der were  ready  to  go. 

All  who  left  Limerick  with  the  intention  of  going  to  France 
did  not  go  for  various  reasons — some  because  they  were  unwill- 
ing to  leave  Ireland,  others  trusted  English  promises,  and  others 
had  heard  of  ill-treatment  of  their  comrades  in  the  French  army. 
It  is  likely  that  many  more  would  have  remained  in  Ireland, 
had  they  not  heard  already  of  the  broken  promises  of  the  Eng- 
lish and  the  ill-treatment  of  their  countrymen,  who  had  submit- 
ted. The  women  and  children  followed  the  soldiers  to  the  ships, 
with  the  idea  of  going  with  them.  The  men  were  first  taken  on 
board,  and  many  of  the  women  fearing  that  they  would  be  left 
behind,  rushed  into  the  water  and  seized  hold  of  the  open  boats 
which  were  taking  the  men  out  to  the  larger  vessels.  Many  of 
them  were  drowned  and  others,  having  their  fingers  cut  off  by 
the  seamen,  were  lost  in  the  sight  of  their  relatives. 

In  March,  1692,  a  royal  proclamation  declared  the  war  end- 
ed,  but  long  before  this  all  resistance  had  ceased.  Protestant 
ascendancy  was  established  and  the  subjugation  of  the  old  race 
was  complete.  The  colonists  had  expected  to  share  in  the  con- 
fiscations, which  they  supposed  would  follow  the  war.  They 
were  indignant  at  the  concessions  made  to  the  Irish,  and  almost 
immediately  began  a  struggle  to  violate  the  Treaty. 

As  King  James'  Parliament  had  repealed  the  Act  of  Set- 
tlement, many  of  the  original  proprietors  had  got  back  their 
lands,  and,  as  a  result,  when  the  war  closed,  the  ownership  of 
land  was  in  a  chaotic  state. 

In  1691  the  English  Parliament  passed  an  act  that  no  mem- 
ber of  the  Irish  Parliament  should  take  his  seat  until  he  had 


112        FROM  THE  BOYNE  TO  THE  ACT  OF  THE  UNION 

taken  certain  oaths  and  subscribed  to  the  declaration  against 
Transnbstantiation.  It  was  the  intention  of  tlie  English  Parlia- 
ment to  exclude  the  Catholic  Irish  from  Parliament,  and,  though 
the  first  Irish  Parliament  which  met  in  1692,  would  not  recog- 
nize the  right  of  the  English  Parliament  to  pass  a  money  bill 
for  the  Irish,  yet  the  same  Parliament  accepted  this  act.  As  a 
result  few  Catholics  presented  themselves  at  the  beginning  of 
the  session,  and  those  who  did  so  refused  to  take  the  oath  or 
subscribe  to  the  declaration  against  Transnbstantiation,  and  the 
Parliament  became  exclusively  Protestant. 

Sidney,  who  was  appointed  Viceroy,  attempted  to  govern 
Ireland  without  persecution,  and  invited  the  Irish  to  join  the 
army.  This  act  was  resented  by  the  colonists,  who  complained 
to  the  English  Parliament  that  under  the  Treaty  of  Limerick, 
the  Catholic  Irish  were  being  protected  to  the  detriment  of  the 
Protestants.  The  English  Parliament  objected  to  the  disposal 
of  the  forfeited  estates  in  Ireland  and  finally  passed  an  act  that 
no  grant  should  be  made  of  forfeited  estates,  until  the  English 
Parliament  should  discuss  and  settle  the  matter. 

This  was  an  attack  by  the  English  Parliament  upon  King 
William,  and  was  an  obvious  attempt  to  set  aside  the  Treaty  of 
Limerick.  But  he  had  already  disposed  of  most  of  the  forfeit- 
ed estates. 

The  question  of  forfeited  estates  provoked  a  long  fight  be- 
tween the  king  and  Parliament,  in  which  the  king  was  worsted, 
and  Parliament  appointed  a  commission  of  its  own  to  inquire 
into  the  extent  of  the  forfeited  estates  in  Ireland.  This  bill  was 
followed  by  another  act,  which  enabled  land  to  be  sold  by  the 
king,  which  really  amounted  to  a  second  Act  of  Settlement. 
As  a  result,  in  absolute  violation  of  the  Treaty  of  Limerick,  most 
of  the  land  in  Ireland  was  confiscated,  with  the  exception  of  the 
estates  of  a  few  families  of  English  blood.  The  whole  power  and 
property  of  the  country  was  conferred  by  successive  monarch  s 
upon  an  English  colony,  who,  though  they  owned  practically  all 
the  land,  never  amounted  to  a  third  of  the  inhabitants. 

As  soon  as  the  party  of  intolerance  were  secure  in  their 
power  the  defenders  of  Deny  resolved  to  avenge  themselves  on 
the  defenders  of  Limerick  and  to  treat  the  Catholics  to  be  sub- 
missive and  to  remember  they  were  a  conquered  people. 

The  king  abandoned  them  to  their  foes  and  in  1699  a  Par- 
liament exclusively  Protestant,  began  the  passage  of  a  long 
series  of  penal  laws. 

It  seems  almost  impossible  in  this  enlightened  age  to  real- 
ize that  a  people  professing  the  religion  of  Christianity  should 


HON.   PHILIP  J.  O'COXNELL  113 

have  permitted  the  long  period  of  barbarous  persecution  which 
followed.  Edmund  Burke,  a  Protestant  born  in  Ireland,  univer- 
sally recognized  as  the  foremost  English  statesman  of  his  time, 
and  one  of  the  greatest,  if  not  the  greatest  orator  of  the  modern 
world,  declared  in  Parliament  ' '  that  the  penal  code  was  a  ma- 
chine of  wise  and  elaborate  contrivance  and  as  well  fitted  for 
the  oppression,  impoverishment  and  degradation  of  a  people 
and  the  debasement  in  them  of  human  nature  itself  as  ever 
proceeded  from  the  perverted  ingenuity  of  man." 

Among  the  laws  which  were  passed  was  one  which  took 
away  all  firedrms  from  the  Catholics,  and  no  Catholic  was  al- 
lt)wed  to  engage  in  gunmaking.  No  person  could  leave  Ireland 
to  be  trained  as  a  Catholic  or  send  abroad  money  for  the  sup- 
port of  a  religious  house,  under  the  penalty  of  losing  all  civil 
rights. 

A  Catholic  was  not  allowed  lo  teach  a  school  publicly  or 
in  a  private  house,  except  to  the  members  of  the  family. 

A  Catholic  servant  or  laborer  who  refused  to  work  on  a 
holy  day  of  his  church  was  fined,  and  if  he  did  nc^t  pay  his  fine 
was  whipped.  All  Catholic  Bishops  and  all  Catholic  religious 
orders  were  banished  from  the  island. 

The  priests  only  were  allowed  to  stay  with  the  hope  that 
they  would  soon  die  out  as  the  Bishops  were  all  to  be  banished 
and  no  other  Bishops  were  to  be  allowed  to  come  into  the 
country. 

No  Catholic  was  allowed  to  marry  a  Protestant.  If  they 
did  marry  they  were  deemed  dead  in  the  law  and  their  property 
was  to  be  confiscated.  No  Catholic  was  allowed  to  become  a  so- 
licitor. 

A  priest  was  not  allowed  to  return  to  Ireland  if  he  had  for 
any  reason  left  the  country,  and  all  priests  were  required  to  be 
registered,  showing  their  residence,  age,  and  the  date  of  their 
ordination. 

These  are  but  a  few  of  the  laws  which  for  almost  a  hun- 
dred years  reduced  our  ancestors  to  almost  the  level  of  slaves. 
In  the  attempt  to  enforce  them,  every  form  of  -:^riieltY  and  bar- 
barism was  practised.  But  the  attempt  to  rout  out  Catholicity 
in  Ireland  alasolutely  failed. 

The  people  naturally  turned  to  the  clergy  for  help  and  con- 
solation. Disguised  as  a  sailor  or  clerk,  many  a  young  Irish  lad 
went  abroad  to  pursue  his  studies  in  France  or  Spain,  and  after 
ordination  to  the  priesthood,  again  putting  on  a  disguise,  he 
came  home  to  pursue  the  perilous  duties  of  his  office. 

Priest  hunting  was  a  favorite  calling  for  many  years.  In 
some  localities  where  the  Protestants  were  tolerant  the  priest- 


114        FROM  THE  BOYNE  TO  THE  ACT  OF  THE  UNION 

liunter  would  refrain  from,  his  degraded  calling  and  the  priest 
would  go  about  without  disguise. 

But  these  periods  of  tolerance  did  not  last  long,  and  the 
priest  would  be  obliged  to  flee  to  the  mountains  and  the  woods. 
Mass  was  frequently  said  in  the  fields,  and  when  the  priest 
said  mass  he  frequently  wore  a  veil  or  screened  the  altar  so  that 
the  people  who  assisted  at  the  mass  could  truthfully  answer 
when  interrogated  about  it,  that  though  they  had  heard  the 
priest,  they  had  not  seen  his  face  and  could  not  tell  his  name. 

But  in  spite  of  this  persecution  which  lasted,  for  almost  a 
century,  the  old  Church  weathered  the  storm,  and  when  it 
ceased.  Catholicity,  if  possible,  was  more  firmly  rooted  in  tlie 
people  than  ever. 

In  addition  to  persecuting  the  Catholics  in  the  practice  of 
their  religion,  the  doors  to  the  learned  professions  were  closed 
to  them,  and  all  civil  offices  were  absolutely  denied  them.  As 
they  were  not  allowed  to  own  ]n'operty,  many  of  them  were  re- 
duced to  the  position  of  beggars.  The  peasantry  were  always 
on  the  brink  of  starvation,  and  a  period  of  famines  began,  five 
or  six  of  which  occurred,  culminating  in  the  great  famine  of 
1741,  in  which  four  thousand  persons  perished. 

In  the  fifty  years  following  the  Treaty  of  Limerick  four 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  Irishmen  enlisted  in  the  armies  of 
France,  many  of  them  for  the  want  of  something  to  do.  They 
went  not  only  to  the  armies  of  France,  but  to  Austria,  Russia 
and  Spain. 

It  frequently  fell  to  the  lot  of  Irish  soldiers  to  encounter  an 
English  army  on  the  field  of  battle  on  the  Continent  of  Europe, 
and  when  they  met  the  bitter  enemies  of  their  race  and  relig- 
ion, they  fought  with  a  desperation  born  of  hate,  famine  and 
exile.  The  Irish  poet,  Davis,  in  his  poem  the  "Battle  of  Fonte- 
noy,"  in  which  he  tells  the  story  of  how  the  Irish  Brigade  of 
the  French  Army  defeated  the  English  under  the  Duke  of  Cum- 
berland at  Fontenoy  in  1744,  and  turned  disaster  and  defeat  in- 
to a  great  victory  of  the  French  Army  over  the  combined  forces 
of  Austrians,  Dutch  and  English,  well  described  this  feeling 
when  he  wrote: — 

"How  fierce  the  look  these  exiles  wear,  who 're  wont  to  be  so 

gay, 
The  treasured  wrongs  of  fifty  years  are  in  their  hearts  today — 
Their  treaty  broken,  ere  the  ink  wherewith  'twas  writ  could 

dry. 
Their  plundered  homes,  their  ruined  shrines,  their  women's 

parting  cry, 


HON.   PHILIP  J.  O'CONNELL  115 

Their  priesthood  hunted  down  like  wolves,  their  country  over- 
thrown,— 
Each  looks,  as  if  revenge  for  all  were  staked  on  him  alone. ' ' 

The  Presbyterians  and  Quakers  who  constituted  two- 
thirds  of  the  colonial  interest  in  Ireland,  were  also  greatly 
persecuted  by  the  Protestant  Ascendency,  and  were  denied  all 
civil  offices  and  reduced  almost  to  the  level  of  their  Catholic 
fellow  countrymen.  The  disabilities  under  which  the  Presby- 
terians labored  joined  to  economic  causes  drove  many  of  them 
to  emigrate  f-rom  Ulster.  In  the  year  1728  thirty-one  hundred 
of  them  left  Ulster  and  settled  in  Pennsylvania,  Virginia  and 
North  Carolina. 

In  1698  the  English  Parliament  passed  a  law  which  abso- 
lutely forbade  the  Irish  people  from  exporting  woolens  to  any 
country  except  England,  and  to  England  subject,  however,  to 
a  ruinous  tariff.  The  woolen  industry  had  been  one  of  the  im- 
portant industries  of  the  island  and  this  industry  was  almost 
completely  destroyed  by  this  law,  and  its  loss  was  a  great  blow 
to  the  country. 

William  Mol>Tieaux,  one  of  the  members  of  the  University 
of  Dublin  in  1698,  opposed  the  law  and  wrote  a  text  book,  in 
which  he  maintained  that  the  Irish  Parliament  had  supreme 
control  over  their  own  legislation.  But,  even  in  this  text  book, 
the  author  made  it  clear  that  the  ascendancy  was  for  him  the 
Irish  nation  and  that  the  majority  of  the  Irish  people  had  no 
place,  in  it. 

In  1703  there  was  a  movement  in  Parliament  for  a  closer 
union  with  England,  but  England  would  not  have  a  Parliamen- 
tary union,  and  the  Irish  Parliament  remained  distinct  but  sub- 
ordinate, resembling  its  English  parent  but  with  none  of  its 
merits.  It  was  a  Parliament  without  power,  without  dignity, 
and  self  respect,  a  Parliament  of  pensioners  and  placemen, 
bigots  and  bullies. 

The  English  Parliament  in  1719  passed  an  act  expressly 
declaring  that  it  had  the  power  to  legislate  for  Ireland.  It  had 
been  doing  this  thing  frequently  in  the  past,  but  it  was  not  un- 
til the  year  1719  that  they  expressly  declared  that  it  had  the 
right  to  do  so. 

In  1722  the  copper  coinage  in  Ireland  was  very  short.  Vari- 
ous petitions  of  the  Irish  Parliament  to  have  a  mint  at  Dublin 
had  been  ignored.  But,  through  the  influence  of  the  Duchess  of 
Kendall,  one  of  the  favorites  of  George  the  First,  who  was  then 
king,  William  Wood,  an  iron  monger  of  Wolverhampton,  was 
granted  a  patent  to  coin  copper  half-jDence  and  farthings  to  the 


116  FROM  THE  BOYNE  TO  THE  ACT  OF  THE  UNION 

amount  of  one  hundred  and  eight  thousand  pounds.  Wood  soon 
began  to  send  his  half-pence  and  farthings  across  the  channel. 
The  Irish  Commissioner  of  Eevenue  protested  to  the  Viceroy 
and  to  the  Treasury  Commissioners  against  this,  but  neither 
protest  received  even  the  courtesy  of  a  reply.  Parliament  took 
the  matter  into  its  own  hands  and  resolved  that  Wood  had  been 
guilty  of  fraud;  that  the  coin  was  greatly  adulterated  and 
would  entail  a  great  loss  to  the  country. 

Jonathan  Swift,  the  Protestant  Dean  of  St.  Patrick's  in 
Dublin,  then  began  a  memorable  fight.  Swift  was  Irish  by 
birth  and  education,  yet  he  took  little  pride  in  being  an  Irish- 
man. He  despised  the  Catholics  and  favored  the  penal  code. 
He  hated  the  Presbyterians,  perhaps  more  than  he  did  the  Cath- 
olics, but,  at  the  same  time,  he  was  disgusted  with  the  corrup- 
tion, hypocrisy  and  servitude  of  his  co-religionists.  Under  the 
assumed  name  of  M.  B.  Drapier,  he  wrote  a  series  of  pamphlets 
denouncing  Wood  and  his  coin.  In  a  short  time  all  Ireland  was 
in  a  blaze  of  excitement  over  the  letters  of  Swift,  and  all  classes 
of  the  people  joined  in  their  abhorrence  of  Woods'  half-pence. 
In  these  letters  Swift  denied  the  right  of  England's  Parliament 
to  make  laws  for  Ireland.  To  him  it  was  government  without 
the  consent  of  the  governed.  He  boldly  asserted  that  the  Irish 
were  as  free  as  the  English  by  the  laws  of  God,  of  nature  and  of 
nations.  A  price  was  set  upon  his  head,  and  though  every  man 
in  Ireland  knew  that  Swift  was  the  author  of  the  letters,  no  one 
would  betray  him.  England  finally  backed  down  and  the  pat- 
ent was  cancelled  and  the  angry  passions  of  the  people  for  a 
time  subsided. 

During  the  years  of  the  penal  laws  in  Ulster,  secret  Pro- 
testant societies  called  ' '  Oak  Boys ' '  and ' '  Steel  Boys ' '  came  into 
existence  for  the  purpose  of  fighting  excessive  tithes  and  rents, 
which  were  levied  by  the  Ascendancy  on  the  people.  They 
burnd  houses  and  destroyed  cattle,  and  compelled  the  landlord 
and  the  parson  to  moderate  their  demands. 

In  1741,  a  new  Apostle  of  Reform  and  a  champion  of  legis- 
lative independence  appeared  in  the  person  of  Doctor  Lucas, 
who  founded  and  edited  a  weekly  paper  called  ''The  Citizen's 
Journal."  He  originally  began  as  a  colonial  patriot,  but  his 
denunciation  of  the  whole  system  of  government  in  Ireland 
made  him  popular  with  the  native  race  and  all  classes  of  nation- 
alists among  the  Irish  people  began  to  read  his  paper. 

He  insisted  on  the  right  of  Ireland  to  make  her  own  laws 
without  the  interference  of  England,  and  declared  that,  if  Eng- 
land was  to  legislate  for  Ireland,  there  was  no  safety  for  her; 
that  her  linen  industry  would  perish  as  did  her  woolen  industry. 


HON.   PHILIP  J.   O'CONNELL  117 

But  he  soon  was  condemned  by  the  Irish  Parliament  itself  and 
was  obliged  to  flee  the  country  to  the  Isle  of  Man. 

The  persecution  of  Lucas  drew  the  attention  of  all  Ireland 
to  his  writings.  In  the  meanwhile  an  opposition  party  known 
as  ' '  The  Patriots ' '  had  grown  up  in  Parliament,  who  helped  to 
keep  the  national  sentiment  alive,  although  their  nationality 
was  narrow  and  exclusive. 

In  1745  Lord  Chesterfield  became  the  Viceroy  of  Ireland. 
Under  him  the  priest  hunting  was  stopped;  chapels  were  open- 
ed he  was  affable  to  the  poor  and  rebuked  many  officers  and 
magistrates  for  their  over-zeal  in  persecution.  Mass  was  again 
openly  celebrated  in  Ireland.  Though  not  a  single  enactment  of 
the  penal  code  was  repealed,  yet  the  government  under  Chester- 
field connived  at  the  non-enforcement  of  the  laws.  He  was  soon 
recalled  and  the  old  policy  of  persecution  was  immediately  re- 
sumed. This  short  respite,  however,  had  the  effect  of  infusing 
new  spirit  into  the  Catholics,  and  also  introduced  disturbing 
elements  into  the  minds  of  Protestants  as  to  the  wisdom  of  the 
persecution. 

About  this  time  in  the  south  of  Ireland  most  of  the  land 
formerly  used  as  tillage  land  was  thrown  into  pasturage  and 
the  farmers  and  laborers  turned  adrift  and  many  who  did  not 
enlist  for  military  service,  left  Ireland  for  America.  This  con- 
version of  the  land  into  pasturage  meant  starvation.  Again  the 
collection  of  tithes  was  looked  upon  as  a  great  evil,  both  by 
Catholics  and  Presbyterians  and  to  resist  both  of  these  great 
evils  a  secret  society  in  the  south  of  Ireland  known  as  the 
''White  Boys,"  so-called  from  their  wearing  white  shirts  out- 
side of  their  clothes,  was  organized  and  went  around  levelling 
houses,  destroying  cattle  and  committing  many  outrages,  and 
while  they  were  in  existence  they  kept  the  Southern  Counties 
in  terror,  but  they  were  pursued  by  the  landlords  with  great 
vigor.  The  ascendancy  denounced  these  uprisings  as  a  papist 
conspiracy,  yet  made  no  attempt  to  remove  the  cause  of  them, 
and  continued  to  pass  laws  for  their  punishment  that  were  bar- 
barous in  the  extreme.  During  this  period  of  crime  and  misery 
Parliamentary  proceedings  began  to  attract  attention. 

The  union  between  Scotland  and  England  led  to  a  similar 
suggestion  of  the  union  between  Ireland  and  England.  It 
seemed  to  be  the  only  way  of  getting  rid  of  the  trade  restric- 
tions, which  were  impoverishing  the  nation.  It  received  little 
encouragement  in  England  in  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth 
century. 

The  failure  of  the  efforts  of  those  who  sought  to  bring 
about  a  union  between  England  and  Ireland  convinced  the  ma- 


118  FROM  THE  BOYNE  TO  THE  ACT  OF  THE  UNION 

jority  of  the  colonists  that  the  English  Parliament  was  hostile 
to  the  growth  of  industry  in  Ireland  and  had  sought  to  destroy 
its  chief  industry,  and  that  it  was  never  likely  to  lift  Ireland  to 
a  position  of  equality  with  herself.  This  feeling  and  belief  had 
much  to  do  with  the  growth  of  the  national  spirit.  The  attempt 
to  enforce  the  penal  laws  after  Chesterfield 's  period  of  conniv- 
ance, showed  a  deep  stratum  of  intolerance,  and  it  led  to  the 
foundation  of  the  First  Catholic  Committee  in  1757.  This  was 
the  first  movement  in  Ireland  to  obtain  religious  and  political 
freedom  and  social  reformation  by  a  peaceful  association.  This 
Catholic  Committee  was  supported  almost  entirely  by  the  mid- 
dle class  of  Catholics.  The  aristocracy  among  the  Catholics 
were  afraid  of  giving  any  assistance.  The  clergy,  though  ready 
to  brave  death  for  religion's  sake,  were  unprepared  to  join  in 
the  political  agitation.  The  great  mass  of  the  people  were  un- 
educated and  undisciplined  and  easily  led  by  those  in  whom 
they  reposed  confidence,  and  were  liable  to  be  carried  away  by 
ungovernable  impulses,  under  the  persuasion  of  the  barbarous 
tyranny  and  suffering  then  endured.  The  Catholic  Committee 
awakened  the  energy  of  the  rising  generation  and  showed  that 
peaceful  acquiescence  in  their  degradation  was  not  the  way  to 
remedy  their  grievances. 

For  years  it  was  impossible  to  bring  about  any  legislative 
reform.  The  Parliamentary  pensioners  and  placemen  prevent- 
ed any  reforms  in  the  pension  list,  or  in  the  appointment  of 
judges.  Dr.  Lucas,  in  his  writings,  said  that  no  reform  would 
come  until  Parliament  would  reform  itself 

In  1765  an  attempt  was  made  to  have  a  bill  passed  to  limit 
the  duration  of  Parliament,  but  this  was  unsuccessful.  Be- 
tween 1771  and  1775  some  minor  concessions  were  made  to  the 
Catholics,  including  a  new  oath  of  allegiance  to  meet  their  re- 
ligious objections. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  American  Kevolution,  the  agita- 
tion for  free  trade  commenced  and  as  p]ngland's  difficulties  in- 
creased, the  demands  of  the  Irish  Parliament  grew  louder  and 
louder.  The  defeat  of  the  English  in  the  American  War  at 
Saratoga  in  1777  filled  the  Irish  people  with  hope.  England 
began  to  make  concessions  to  them  and,  as  the  Revolutionary 
War  progressed,  Ireland  was  gradually  denuded  of  her  troops 
and  volunteer  corps  for  purpose  of  self  protection  were  formed 
throughout  the  country.  The  movement  for  the  organization 
of  the  volunteers  began  in  Belfast.  The  volunteers  served  with- 
out pay,  carried  arms  and  wore  uniforms.  Now,  when  England 
and  the  colonists  stood  face  to  face  in  the  fight  for  free  trade 
each  side  tried  to  conciliate  the  native  Irish.    In  1778,  England 


HON.  PHILIP  J.  O'CONNELL  113 

conceded  the  right  to  the  Catholics  to  hold  landed  property. 
The  Catholic  Irish,  however,  threw  in  their  fortunes  with  their 
colonial  fellow-countrymen  and,  as  a  result,  a  united  Ireland 
confronted  the  English  government.  In  1779,  the  Irish  Parlia- 
ment met.  Henry  Grattan,  who  had  become  a  member  four 
years  earlier,  was  foremost  among  the  leaders  of  the  Patriot 
Party  and  a  colonel  in  the  volunteers.  No  one  had  striven  more 
earnestly  than  he  to  end  the  feud  between  the  colonists  and 
Catholics.  He  was  the  champion  of  the  Catholics  in  1778,  when 
important  concessions  were  made  to  them,  and  he  was  now  the 
champion  of  both  the  colonists  and  native  Irish  in  the  attempt 
to  shake  off  the  commercial  fetters,  which  shackled  both.  De- 
monstrations of  the  volunteers,  who  had  taken  up  the  fight  for 
the  removal  of  trade  restrictions,  took  place  all  through  Ire- 
land, and  especially  in  Dublin.  England  was  terrified.  In  1779 
Ireland  was  granted  free  trade.  Having  obtained  free  trade, 
the  volunteers  resolved  to  obtain  a  free  Parliament.  In  1780 
Grattan  introduced  a  bill  in  the  Irish  Parliament,  which  de- 
clared that  the  king,  by  and  with  the  consent  of  the  Lords  and 
Commons  of  Ireland,  was  the  only  power  competent  to  legis- 
late for  her. 

In  1782,  the  volunteers  held  a  convention  at  Dungannon. 
It  was  attended  by  representatives  of  one  hundred  and  forty- 
three  corps  of  Ulster  volunteers.  This  convention  demanded 
legislative  independence.  It  asserted,  too,  the  right  of  private 
judgment  in  matters  of  religion,  and  expressed  its  gratitude 
and  pleasure  on  the  repeal  of  the  penal  laws. 

Religious'  liberty  began  to  advance  step  by  step  with  poli- 
tical liberty.  The  support  of  the  Catholics  in  favor  of  Irish  lib- 
erty brought  to  their  assistance  the  ablest  men  in  both  parties 
in  Parliament,  and  a  bill  was  passed  which  permitted  the  Cath- 
olics to  take  and  dispose  of  land,  and  repealed  the  law  against 
the  celebration  of  Mass,  and  also  destroyed  many  other  penal 
laws.  It  contained  provisions  for  the  education  of  Catholics. 
Thus  was  a  great  breach  made  in  the  penal  code. 

In  1782,  the  English  Parliament,  impressed  with  the  neces- 
sity of  curbing  the  excitement  in  Ireland,  began  to  consider  a 
final  adjustment,  that  would  bring  satisfaction  to  both  king- 
doms. 

Grattan  in  April  secured  the  passage  of  his  bill,  embody- 
ing the  resolutions  of  the  Dungannon  Convention  by  a  unani- 
mous vote.  Finally,  in  May,  1782,  the  English  Parliament,  un- 
der the  leadership  of  Fox,  recognized  the  right  of  the  legislative 
independence  of  the  Irish  Parliament.  Thus  was  ended  the 
fight  begun  by  Molyneux,  carried  on  by  Swift  and  Lucas,  and 


120        FROM  THE  BOYNE  TO  THE  ACT  OP  THE  UNION 

triumpliantly  closed  mider  the  leadership  of  Grattan.  The 
great  Irish  patriot  was  well  justified  in  saying  as  he  does  in 
one  of  his  speeches :  ' '  I  found  Ireland  on  her  knees,  I  watched 
over  her  with  a  paternal  solicitude;  I  have  traced  her  progress 
from  injuries  to  arms,  from  arms  to  liberty.  Spirit  of  Swift! 
Spirit  of  Molyneux!  Your  genius  has  prevailed!  Ireland  is  a 
nation.  In  that  character  I  hail  her,  and  bowing  in  her  august 
presence,  I  say — 'esto  perpetua!' 

But  this  hope  and  desire  of  Grattan's  was  not  to  succeed. 
In  the  Parliament  of  Grattan,  which  thus  began,  the  Catholic 
was  still  excluded.  He  was  also  deprived  even  of  the  Parlia- 
mentary franchise,  and  the  Parliament  was  consequently  still 
unrepresentative.  Grattan  and  Flood  were  its  principal  mem- 
bers. Flood  was  opposed  to  giving  Catholics  the  right  to  sit  in 
Parliament,  although  otherwise  desirous  of  protecting  them. 
Flood  made  an  effort  to  reform  the  organization  of  Parliament, 
but  was  not  successful. 

At  this  time,  Fitzgibbon,  a  grandson  of  a  peasant  and  a 
grandson  of  a  Catholic,  and  whose  name  is  still  loathed  in  Ire- 
land, was  attorney  general.  He  hated  the  Catholics,  and,  when 
the  ''White  Boys"  broke  out  in  1786,  he  met  the  outbreaks 
with  a  riot  act  of  great  severity,  although  he  knew  that  this 
outbreak  was  due  entirely  to  the  tithe  farmer  and  the  rack- 
renting  landlord.  Under  the  riot  act,  if  twelve  or  more  people 
assembled  together  and  were  ordered  by  a  magistrate  to  dis- 
perse and  did  not  do  so,  they  were  all  liable  to  be  put  to  death. 
Grattan  opposed  this  policy  bitterly. 

In  1783  Flood  left  Ireland  and  became  a  member  of  the 
English  Parliament,  but  never  achieved  any  distinction  there. 
John  Philpot  Curran  took  his  ]:>laee  beside  Grattan.  He  was  a 
friend  and  champion  of  the  Catholics  and  a  constant  foe  of  the 
attorney  general.  He  was  .undoubtedly  the  greatest  advocate 
of  his  time,  and,  as  an  orator,  he  was  second  only  to  Grattan. 
Little  was  done  for  the  Catholics  from  1782  to  1790.  Grattan 
was  always  willing  and  anxious  to  aid  them,  but  the  opposition 
of  Flood  and  others  made  it  impossible.  In  the  meanwhile,  the 
Catholics  made  little  effort  themselves.  The  Catholic  Commit- 
tee did  very  little  during  this  period.  At  this  time  a  Catholic 
petition  would  not  be  received  in  Parliament  or  in  Dublin 
Castle. 

In  1790,  the  French  Eevolution  was  in  progress  and  its 
effect  was  greatly  felt  in  Ireland.  A  new  republic  had  arisen 
in  France,  which  defied  nature  and  reason  and  abolished  all 
religious  disabilities,  declared  tithes  to  be  immoral  and  all  men 
to  have  equal  rights.    The  volunteers,  who  were  still  strong  in 


HON.  PHILIP  J.  O'CONNELL  121 

TJlster,  were  greatly  influenced  by  the  Eevolution  and  began  to 
demand  Parliamentary  reform  and  Catholic  emancipation. " 

The  Society  of  the  United  Irishmen  was  founded  in  1791. 
This  organization  brought  Catholic  and  Presbyterian  together 
in  a  fight  to  bring  about  the  reforms  advocated  earlier  by  the 
Volunteers.  The  British  ministry  at  this  time  was  anxious  for 
the  Irish  Parliament  to  be  more  liberal.  The  English  Parlia- 
ment had  granted  many  important  concessions  to  the  Catholics 
in  England.  But  the  Irish  Parliament  would  not  do  anything 
further  in  thi^  respect. 

Edmund  Burke,  though  he  hated  the  French  Eevolution, 
was  favorable  to  the  Irish  demands.  He  sent  his  son  to  Ireland 
to  aid  in  the  fight.  In  1792,  under  great  pressure  from  Eng- 
land, Catholics  were  first  admitted  to  the  bar  and  marriages 
between  Catholics  and  Protestants  legalized,  and  the  Catholics 
were  permitted  to  erect  and  support  Catholic  schools.  These 
concessions  did  not  satisfy  the  Catholics,  however,  as  they  were 
still  in  the  position  of  a  degi'aded  sect.  The  force  of  the  French 
Eevolution  began  to  be  more  and  more  felt  in  Ireland.  The 
TJnited  Irishmen  and  the  Catholic  Committee  joined  forces  and 
Wolf  Tone,  an  Irish  Protestant,  became  secretary  to  the  Catho- 
lic Committee. 

A  new  Association  known  as  the  Friends  of  the  Constitu- 
tion was  founded  by  Henry  Grattan  in  1792,  the  purpose  of 
which  was  to  complete  Catholic  emancipation  and  Parliament- 
ary reform.  Wolf  Tone,  born  in  Dublin,  educated  at  Trinity, 
called  to  the  bar  in  1789,  first  made  his  appearance  in  Irish  pol- 
itics in  1791.  He  was  the  founder  of  the  United  Irishmen,  and 
by  his  pen  and  voice  did  much  to  bring  the  Catholics  and  Pro- 
testants together.  He  believed  that  Ireland  would  never  be 
liappy  while  the  influence  of  England  was  felt  there,  and  he 
wanted  absolute  independence  for  his  native  land.  His  hope 
in  accomplishing  this  lay  principally  in  the  dissenters  of  the 
north  of  Ireland  and  the  Catholics.  The  society  of  the  United 
Irishmen  did  not  officially  go  as  far  as  Tone  wanted.  It  de- 
manded parliamentarv  reform,  manhood  suffrage,  the  aboli- 
tion of  property  qualifications  for  a  seat  in  Parliament  and 
eoual  rights  for  the  Catholics.  Grattan  was  not  in  sympathy 
with  these  advanced  measures  of  reform.  He  opposed  univer- 
sal suffrage,  and,  as  a  result,  op]")osed  the  United  Irishmen. 
Like  Burke,  he,  too,  hated  the  French  Eevolution  and  wanted 
the  Irish  to  support  England  in  a  war  with  France,  which  was 
then  going  on.  In  1794,  after  a  considerable  struggle,  May- 
nooth  College  was  founded  for  the  education  of  priests,  as  the 
French  Eevolution  made  it  impossible  any  longer  for  priests  to 


122       FROM  THE  BOYNE  TO  THE  ACT  OF  THE  UNION 

be  educated  in  France.    This  college  has  since  become  one  of 
the  gi'eatest  Catholic  Colleges  in  the  world. 

In  1794,  Grattan  renewed  the  fight  for  Catholic  emancipa- 
tion in  the  Irish  Parliament,  but  unsuccessfully.    The  Catholics, 
absolutely  disgusted  at  the  defeat  of  Grattan,  gave  up  the  fight, 
as  they  felt  it  was  useless  any  longer  to  appeal  to  the  Irish 
Parliament,  and  in  vast  numbers  joined  the  United  Irishmen 
and,  through  this  society  and  with  violence,  sought  the  redress 
which  constitutionally  they  ought  to  have  obtained.     Another 
secret  society  of  Catholics,  known  as  The  Defenders,  took  up 
the  fight,  and  began  to    intimidate    magistrates.     They  were 
armed  with  pikes  and  spears  and  frequently  fought  the  Irish 
soldiery.    They  were,  of  course,  frequently  punished  and  many 
of  them  imprisoned  and  killed.    In  Armagh  the  ''Peep  of  Day 
Boys,"  a  Protestant  Society,  fought  The  Defenders  and  defeat- 
ed them.    Afterwards  the  Peep  of  Day  Boys  founded  a  new  as- 
sociation, known  as  the  ' '  Orange  Society, ' '  the  name  being  tak- 
en from  William  of  Orange.    All  of  the  bigots  and  fanatics  of 
Ulster  joined  the  society  and  continued  to  persecute  the  Catho- 
lics there  in  every  way.    The  effect  of  the  outrages  was  to  in- 
crease the  United  Irishmen,  as  the  Catholics  joined  them  for 
protection,  and  the  defenders  all  became  United  Irishmen  and, 
as  a  result,  before  the  Eebellion  of  1798  broke  out,  more  than 
five  hundred  thousand  members  were  on  the  roll  of  the  United 
Irish  Society.     The  members  of  the  Society  soon  came  to  un- 
derstand that  the  ultimate  object  was  a  revolution  and  a  repub- 
lic.    It  had  a  civil  and  military  system  of  organization.     Its 
membership  in  1796  included  Arthur  O'Connor,  McNevin,  Addis 
Emmet  and  Lord  Edward  Fitzgerald,  the  son  of  the  Duke  of 
Leinster.    Wolf  Tone  had  left  Ireland  in  1795.    France  had  sent 
an  emissary  to  Ireland  to  see  if  a  French  invasion  would  be 
welcomed.    The  emissary  was  found  out.  arrested  and  sentenced 
to  death.     Tone  had  met  him  and  had  been  requested  by  this 
emissary  to  go  to  France  on  a  mission  for  the  United  Irish  So- 
siety.    Tone  soon  became  a  marked  man  and  determined  to  leave 
Ireland  if  possible  and  finally,  through  powerful  efforts,  left 
Ireland  and  came  to  Philadelphia.     Addis  Eaimet  and  others 
urged  him,  when  leaving  Ireland,  to  got  aid  from  France.     In 
1796,  Tone  left  the  United  States  and  went  to  Paris,  where  he 
made  a   great  impression  and  finally,  in  December,   1796,   a 
French  fleet  with  many  able  officers  and  men,  numbering  fif- 
teen thousand,  in  forty-three  vessels,  set  out  for  Ireland.    Only 
thirty-five  reached  Bantry  Bay.     A  great  storm  arose,  which 
made  it  impossible  for  the  soldiers  to  land.     It  lasted  many 
days  and  the  fleet  finally  became  scattered  and,  to  the  rage  and 


HON.  PHILIP  J.  O'CONNELL  123 

disgust  of  Tone,  in  twos  and'  threes  they  went  back  to  France. 
England  was  thus  saved  by  the  winds.  France,  at  this  time, 
was  a  great  power  and  had  humbled  all  of  Europe,  excepting 
England,  who  was  still  invincible  on  the  sea. 

Grattan  again  unsuccessfully  urged  upon  Parliament  that, 
if  they  expected  to  obtain  the  support  of  the  Irish  Catholios,, 
they  must  grant  them  Catholic  emancipation.  Camden,  the 
Viceroy,  and  Fitzgibbon,  were  opposed  to  any  concession.  The 
latter  had  sworn  to  make  Ireland  "tame  as  cats"  and  he  im- 
mediately started  out  to  do  it.  Everywhere  outrages  were 
committed  by  the  soldiers.  Men  and  women  were  killed  out- 
right and  in  a  thousand  ways  the  people  were  driven  to  des- 
peration. Grattan 's  influence  in  Parliament  steadily  waned. 
Finally,  when  only  seven  men  supported  him,  in  May,  1797,  he 
ceased  to  attend  Parliament  altogether. 

The  United  Irish  Society  confidently  expected  that  French 
aid  would  be  sent  to  them  and  in  May.  Arthur  O'Connor  was 
sent  to  France  to  hasten  this  aid.  Lord  Edward  Fitzgerald 
was  named  as  commander-in-chief  of  tbe  rebel  forces.  He  was 
then  thirty-five  years  old,  a  Geraldine,  and  the  son  of  Ireland's 
only  duke.  He  threw  rank  and  fortune  to  the  winds  to  fight 
for  his  fellow-countrymen.  He  was  a  man  of  remarkable  per- 
sonal courage  and  was  the  idol  of  the  ])eople.  The  conduct  of 
the  Irish  Army  at  this  time  in  their  treatment  of  the  people 
was  well  described  by  General  Abercrombie,  who  had  been  ap- 
pointed its  chief  military  commander,  who  said  that  he  found 
on  investigation  "that  the  army,  in  ilie  year  1797,  had  com- 
mitted every  cruelty  and  crime  that  could  be  committed  by 
Cossack  or  Calmuck,  with  the  approval  of  those  high  in  office.  "^ 

On  April  3rd,  1798,  a  proclamation  was  issued  by  the  Irish 
government,  demanding  the  surrender  of  all  arms  in  ten  days. 
When  arms  were  not  surrendered,  the  soldiers  made  search 
and  wantonly  destroyed  the  property  of  those  who  were  sus- 
pected of  having  arms.  The  United  Irish  leaders  fixed  on  the 
23rd  of  May  for  the  insurrection.  The  French  in  the  meantime 
changed  its  plan  of  making  the  descent  on  England,  and  Bona- 
parte was  sent  to  Egypt  with  an  army  to  defeat  England  there. 

On  May  18th,  1798,  Lord  Edward  Fitzgerald  was  captured 
a  prisoner,  while  resting  after  dinner  at  the  home  of  a  friend  in 
Dublin,  only  after  he  made  a  gallant  resistance,  in  which  he 
stabbed  one  of  his  captors  and  mortally  wounded  another.  For 
two  months  the  government  had  been  on  his  track.  A  price 
had  been  set  on  his  head.  He  died  from  wounds  received  in 
this  struggle  in  Newgate  Prison  a  couple  of  weeks  afterwards. 
The  day  following  his  capture  the  Sheares  brothers  were  cap- 


124       FROM  THE  BOYNE  TO  THE  ACT  OF  THE  UNION 

tured.  They  were  members  of  the  directorate  of  the  United  Ir- 
ish Society.  Most  of  the  Society's  leaders  were  obliged  to  leave 
the  country,  and  the  whole  movemenc  was  soon  left  without 
any  strong  leadership. 

Many  causes  limited  the  area  of  the  rebellion  and  it  was 
only  in  portions  of  Wicklow,  Kildare,  Carlo \v,  Dublin,  Meath 
and  Queen's  County  that  any  fighting  of  consequence  took 
place. 

On  the  24th  of  May,  1798,  the  insurrection  broke  out  in 
many  places  in  these  counties,  but  the  superior  skill,  discipline 
and  arms  of  the  military  were  almost  invariably  successful.  In 
most  of  the  counties,  except  Wexford,  the  rebellion  was  over  in 
less  than  a  week.  In  Wexford,  howcA  er,  there  was  a  strong 
spirit  of  rebellion.  The  Irish  soldiers  in  Wexford  were  all 
Orangemen,  and  were  constantly  animated  by  religious  preju- 
dices. As  a  result  of  cruelties  committed  by  the  soldiers,  the 
people  preferred  to  fight  than  to  be  massacred,  and  under  the 
leadership  of  Father  John  Murphy  of  Booley vogue,  the  stand- 
ard of  rebellion  rose.  Inside  of  a  week  after  fighting  com- 
menced, the  County  of  Wexford  was  in  control  of  Father  John's 
forces.  Unless  aid  came  from  the  surrounding  country,  the 
])atriot  leaders  knew  that  they  must  fail.  The  Irish  government 
began  to  make  every  effort  to  suppress  the  rebellion.  They 
feared  that,  if  the  French  fleet  landed  in  Wexford,  the  whole 
country  would  be  lost.  The  untrained  peasantry  had  shown 
remarkable  bravery  and  gallantry  and  had  won  very  many  suc- 
cesses. Most  of  the  rebel's  strength  finally  gathered  at  Vine- 
gar Hill  on  the  21st  of  June  of  the  same  year,  and  the  attack  on 
them  was  begun.  The  government  forces  numbered  fourteen 
thousand  trained  soldiers  with  experienced  officers  and  an 
abundance  of  artillery,  while  the  rebels  liad  little  or  no  artillery. 
After  a  stubborn  contest,  lasting  a  few  hours,  the  rebels  were 
out-matched  and  fled  towards  Wexford,  leaving  six  hundred 
dead  on  the  field  of  battle.  In  this  fight  Father  Michael  Mur- 
phy at  the  head  of  his  men,  was  killed.  Father  John  was  cap- 
tured and  taken  prisoner  and  later  hung  at  TuUow.  There 
were  many  other  priests  engaged  in  the  rebellion,  which  was 
practically  over  in  July,  when  a  general  amnesty  was  offered  to 
all  who  would  forsake  their  leaders  and  give  up  their  arms. 
Most  of  the  United  Irish  Directorate,  who  had  been  arrested, 
were  being  tried  before  a  High  Commission  Court  in  Dublin. 
The  Sheares  brothers  were  sent  to  the  scaffold,  and  many  were 
sent  to  Botany  Bay,  and  twenty  of  the  principal  leaders  were 
sent  to  Fort  George  in  Scotland  and  were  kept  there  until  1802. 
Of  these  McNevin  and  Emmet  came  to  the  United  States,  where 


HON.  PHILIP  J,  O'CONNELL  12& 

they  attained  great  distinction,  and  Avtliur  O'Connor  left  for 
France,  where  he  became  a  general  in  tbe  French  Army.  France 
had  utterly  failed  the  United  Irish  in  this  rebellion.  A  small 
force  came  over  in  Angnst  under  the  leadership  of  General 
Humbert.  It  numbered  less  than  a  thousand.  This  force  was 
captured  by  Cornwallis,  and  they  were  treated  as  soldiers  of 
war  and  sent  back  to  France,  but  theii'  Irish  allies,  who  were 
captured  with  them,  were  slaughtered. 

On  September  20,  1798,  another  French  fleet  with  Wolfe 
Tone  aboard  the  Hoclie,  set  sail  from  France  for  the  purpose  of 
seizing  Ireland.  Once  again  the  winds  favored  England.  The 
vessels  were  again  separated  at  sea.  They  were  attacked  and 
disabled  by  an  English  force  under  Wairen,  and  the  Hoclie  was 
captured.  Tone  was  tried  by  a  court  marshal  and  sentenced  to 
be  hung.  As  a  French  officer  he  requested  the  right  to  be  shot. 
This  was  denied  him,  and,  when  refused,  he  cut  his  throat  in 
his  cell.    Before  the  end  of  the  year  the  rebellion  was  at  an  end. 

When  the  rebellion  of  1798  broke  out,  William  Pitt,  the 
English  minister,  seized  the  opportunity  of  bringing  about  a 
legislative  union  between  England  and  Ireland,  and  secured  the 
support  of  the  British  Cabinet  to  the  plan. 

While  as  a  result  of  the  Jacobite  War  and  the  confiscations 
which  followed,  the  Protestant  minority  held  all  the  positions 
of  power  in  Ireland,  yet  they  had  little  desire  for  a  legislative 
union  for  more  than  half  a  century. 

Many  descendants  of  William  and  Cromwell  were  coming 
to  regard  Ireland  as  their  own  country.  It  was  these  men  who 
formed  the  volunteer  army  and  had  made  the  Irish  Parliament 
free.  They  realized  that  England's  Parliament  had  destroyed 
their  trade  and  that  the  Irish  Parliament  was  their  own. 

Since  1782,  the  prosperity  of  the  country  had  advanced 
with  great  strides.  When  Cornwallis  was  sent  to  Ireland  in 
1798,  he  was  instructed  by  Pitt  to  feel  his  way  to  see  what  sup- 
port he  could  secure  for  a  union. 

The  English  government,  anxious  to  obtain  a  majority,  be- 
gan a  campaign  of  education  through  pamphlets  and  in  other 
ways,  in  favor  of  the  union,  showing  benefits  that  would  arise 
therefrom,  and  made  argumentative  appeals  to  both  Protest- 
ants and  Catholics,  as  well  as  to  the  business  interests  of  the 
country. 

When  the  Irish  Parliament  in  January,  1799,  met,  the  ques- 
tion was  immediately  taken  up  under  the  leadership  of  Lord 
Castlereagh,  who  was  then  Chief  Secretary  for  Ireland.  While 
the  king  did  not  want  this  office  held  by  an  Irishman,  yet  an 
exception  was  made  in  the  case  of  Castlereagh,  because  he  was 


126        FROM  THE  BOYNE  TO  THE  ACT  OF  THE  UNION 

SO  unlike  an  Irishman.  He  was  cold,  callous,  and  heartless.  He 
liad  favored  every  severity  of  the  government  and  employed  as 
his  instruments  in  the  enforcement  of  law  men  without  a  shred 
of  character.  Love  of  country  he  did  not  understand,  and  pub- 
lic virtue  he  despised.  Bribery  and  corruption  he  loved  to 
employ.  The  support  of  the  I^nion  was  to  be  made  the  test  of 
loyalty  and  all  opponents  of  it  were  dismissed  from  their  of- 
fices. The  opposition  to  the  Union  in  Parliament  had  many  able 
leaders,  and  the  votes  in  the  early  part  of  the  struggle  were  al- 
most even  in  the  Irish  House  of  Commons,  while  in  the  House 
of  Lords,  the  union  forces  were  overwhelmingly  in  the  majority. 
Foster,  the  Irish  secretary,  was  one  of  the  principal  oppon- 
ents of  the  union.  He  had  been  opposed  to  Parliamentary  re- 
form and  to  Catholic  emanci]^ation.  During  the  Rebellion  of 
'98  he  supported  every  severity  and  cruelty  of  the  government, 
yet  to  the  chagrin  of  Pitt,  he  took  the  side  of  the  opponents  of 
the  union.  Those  who  supported  Castle reagli  in  the  early  stag- 
es of  the  Parliamentary  struggle  were  rewarded  with  offices, 
]iensions  and  promotions  to  the  peerage.  Corruption  and  the 
purchase  of  seats  immediately  began. 

Outside  of  Parliament  very  effective  means  were  taken  to 
influence  public  opinion.  Troops  were  hurried  from  England 
until  the  army  in  Ireland  numbered  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
seven  thousand  men,  although  no  rebellion  was  then  feared.  A 
Coercion  Act  in  '99  was  passed,  placing  all  Ireland  under  mar- 
tial law.  Meetings  opposing  the  union  were  everywhere  sup- 
pressed. Petitions  favoring  the  union  were  circulated  through- 
out Ireland,  with  small  success.  In  the  entire  country  only  sev- 
en thousand  petitioned  for  the  union,  while  one  hundred  and 
ten  thousand  freeholders  opposed  it. 

Among  the  Catholics,  a  few  bishops  having  lost  all  confi- 
dence in  the  Irish  Parliament,  and  havmg  been  promised  more 
liberal  treatment  if  a  union  was  brought  about,  favored  it,  but 
the  priests  throughout  the  nation  were  generally  opposed  to  it, 
and  the  small  number,  who  signed  the  petitions  favoring  the 
union,  proved  that  the  gr.eat  bulk  of  the  Catholic  laity  was  thor- 
oughly opposed  to  it. 

Daniel  O'Connell,  who  made  his  first  public  speech  in  Jan- 
uary, 1800,  declared  that  he  would  rather  trust  his  Protestant 
fellow-countrymen  than  to  lay  his  country  at  the  feet  of  for- 
eigners, and  that,  if  a  union  was  to  be  ihe  alternative  of  the  re- 
enactment  of  the  penal  laws,  he  preferred  the  re-enactment  of 
the  penal  laws.  In  the  House  of  Commons  out  of  three  hundred 
men,  only  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  men  were  elected  from 
cities  and  towns  with  an  open  franchise;  one  hundred  and  sev- 


HON.   PHILIP  J.  O'CONNELL  127 

•«iity-two  were  returned  from  the  close  boroughs,  named  by  a 
crowd  of  private  patrons,  and  consequently  hound  to  vote  as 
their  patrons  wanted.  In  such  an  assembly  it  was  easy  to  get 
a  majority,  especially  when  bribery  and  corruption  were  used. 
The  great  event  of  the  debate  was  the  re-appearance  of  Grattan. 
With  great  reluctance  he  consented  to  re-enter  Parliament.  He 
was  then  in  feeble  health,  but  through  a  friend  he  secured  a 
place  in  Parliament  from  a  close  borough.  Dressed  in  uni- 
form of  the  Volunteers  and  with  loaded  pistols  in  his  pockets, 
as  he  feared  an  attack  on  his  way  to  the  House  of  Commons,  he 
made  his  reappearance.  He  made  one  of  the  greatest  speeches 
of  his  career,  but  was  unsuccessful,  as  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
eight  of  the  members  supported  Castlereagh,  while  only  ninety- 
six  voted  with  Grattan.  Bribery  and  corruption  had  triumphed. 
The  articles  of  the  Union  were  finally  carried  by  a  vote  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty-eight  to  one  hundred  and  fifteen.  The  articles 
were  sent  to  England  in  March,  1800,  and  with  slight  altera- 
tions were  passed  there  finally  in  May.  They  were  then  sent 
l)ack  to  the  Irish  Parliament,  and  the  act  as  finally  passed  re- 
ceived the  Royal  assent  in  August,  1900. 

In  the  century  and  more  that  has  elapsed  since  the  Legisla- 
tive union  between  Ireland  and  England  became  effective,  ev- 
ery promise  that  was  made  in  its  behalf  has  failed  of  accom- 
l)lishment  and  Ireland  has  fallen  steadily  backward.  Disaster 
:and  ruin  have  been  its  fruit  and  the  nation  has  constantly  lost 
in  population,  while  almost  every  nation  in  the  world  has  profit- 
ed in  Ireland's  loss. 

Within  a  year  it  is  confidently  hoped  that  as  the  result  of 
almost  a  half  century  of  agitation,  a  solid  and  united  parlia- 
mentary delegation,  led  by  wise  and  prudent  leadership,  with 
the  backing  of  the  democracy  of  England,  will  wipe  out  the 
corruj^tion,  bribery  and  theft  of  1800,  and  Ireland  will  once 
more  have  a  Parliament  of  her  own. 

Surely  it  is  not  too  much  to  hope  that  in  our  own 
life  time,  with  the  aid  of  this  independent  parliamentary  body 
constantly  seeking  the  prosperity  and  happiness  of  the  country, 
Ireland  may  take  her  proper  place  among  the  nations  of  the 
world. 


Rev.  Michael  J.  McKenna 


Eev.  Michael  J.  McKenna,  assistant  pastor  of  St. 
Francis  Churcli,  North  Adams,  Mass.,  is  a  native  of 
Holyoke,  Mass.  His  early  education  was  received  in 
the  parochial  and  high  schools  of  that  city.  He  stud- 
ied at  St.  Charles  College,  Maryland,  and  later  at  the 
University  of  Ottawa,  from  which  he  was  graduated  in 
1896.  His  theological  studies  were  made  at  the  Grand 
Seminary,  Montreal.  He  was  ordained  to  the  priest- 
hood on  Christmas  Day,  1900. 

Father  McKenna  was  first  stationed  at  St.  Fran- 
cis Church,  North  Adams.  Following  his  service  in  the 
North  Adams  Church  he  was  transfeiTed  to  St.  Pat- 
rick's Church,  Montreal.  He  was  assistant  priest  at 
the  Church  of  the  Holy  Family,  Springfield,  Mass.,  for 
eight  years.  He  came  to  St.  John's  Church,  Worces- 
ter, Mass.,  in  April,  1911.  In  April,  1913,  after  two 
years'  service,  he  was  transferred  to  St.  Francis 
Church,  North  Adams. 

AVhile  in  Worcester,  Father  McKenna  was  a  mem- 
ber and  chaplain  of  Division  24,  A.  0.  H.  He  has  been 
connected  with  the  Springfield  Diocesan  C.  T.  A.  Union 
for  several  years.  He  served  as  president  in  1910  and 
1911. 


®tj?  (Eathnlir  EmanrtiJattnu  p^iini: 


1801 — 1846 
BY 


REV.  MICHAEL  J.  McKENNA 


Toward  the  end  of  tlie  18tli  century,  Ireland  was  passing 
through  the  darkest  era  of  her  history.  The  prime  minister 
of  England  at  the  time  was  that  viiltnre  statesman,  William 
Pitt.  This  high-minded  fellow  manfully  availed  himself  of  the 
hopeless  apathy  into  which  the  late  rebellion  had  cast  the  Irish 
nation. 

As  leader  of  the  government,  he  grasped  this  dignified  oc- 
casion to  further  his  scheme  for  the  legislative  union  of  Ireland 
and  Great  Britain.  Curran,  Plunkett,  Grattan,  and  other  patri- 
otic Irishmen  had  long  opposed  the  foul  intrigue  of  the  British 
minister,  but  all  to  no  avail.  The  tears  and  entreaties  of  these 
gifted  statesmen  proved  absolutely  fruitless. 

Ladies  and  gentlemen,  we  are  all  familiar  to  some  extent 
with  the  horrid  excesses  of  which  national  parliaments  have 
from  time  to  time  been  guilty.  But  there  is  one  excess  recorded 
in  the  story  of  civil  states,  baser  than  which,  history  knows  no 
record,  and  which  will  stand  forever  an  unanswerable  taunt  to 
the  name  of  England  as  an  honest  state. 

'Tis'the  imperial  theft,  the  parliamentary  sacrilege  com- 
mitted by  the  ministry  of  England  against  our  race,  100  years 
ago,  on  old  historic  College  green. 

Would  you  gaze  for  a  passing  moment  on  that  memorable 
scene,  the  bare  thought  of  which  turns  almost  to  gall  the  Irish 
blood  that  courses  through  my  veins  ?  The  3^ear  was  1800.  Par- 
liament had  convened  for  the  last  reading  of  a  bill  on  a  union 
of  our  fatherland  and  Great  Britain.  Excitement  among  the 
people  naturally  was  intense,  and  threats  from  every  side  were 
made  against  the  aliens  and  the  traitors.  The  awful  time  they 
feared  had  now  arrived,  when  the  light  of  Irish  liberty  would 
be  extinguished. 


130  THE    CATHOLIC    EMANCIPATION    PERIOD 

Their  fear  was  right.  No  more  ^voulcl  the  sun  rise  over 
them  as  an  independent  people.  Upon  the  floor  of  parliament 
sat  300  men.  Irishmen?  Yes,  a  few.  Catholics?  Before  God  in 
heaven,  and  'tis  history,  not  one  solitary  man. 

The  penal  code  was  as  yet  by  no  means  dead.  The  mncli 
dreaded  moment  came  at  last.  The  prime  supporter  of  the  bill, 
a  man,  with  the  mention  of  whose  namt  I  dislike  to  pollute  my 
lips,  a  man  who  lived  as  Judas  lived,  and  a  man  who  died  ,as 
Judas  died,  a  traitor  and  a  suicide,  arose  to  address  the  house 
on  the  order  of  the  day. 

He  proposed  a  vote  for  the  legislative  union  between  Ire- 
land and  Great  Britain.  The  words  seemed  frozen  as  they  is- 
sued from  his  lips.  He  coolly  made  his  motion,  and  as  coolly 
resumed  his  seat. 

There  he  sat,  with  the  utmost  composure  and  indifference, 
a  man  without  a  country,  without  a  God,  save  base  ambition; 
the  once  minister  supreme  of  Ireland,  cold-blooded,  stony-heart- 
ed. Catholic  hating,  self-destroying.  Lord  Castlereagh.  0,  what 
a  glorious  counterpart,  this  Judas,  of  that  modern  Herod  of  the 
Saxons,  and  with  what  immortal  lustre  shall  not  the  name  of 
each  adorn  forever  the  page  of  Irish  history,  the  nation-selling 
Castlereagh,  and  the  nation-slaying  Cromwell' 

Among  the  spectatoi's  in  the  gallery  who  watched  the  un- 
holy scene  that  was  taking  place,  was  a  young  Irishman,  a  law- 
yer, who  would  one  day  stir  the  world  and  absorb  the  attention 
of  mankind.  A  melancholy  picture  of  his  country  in  disgrace 
loomed  up  before  him.  ''Poor  Ireland,*'  he  thought,  "with  her 
fadeless  past,  will  in  a  moment  more  be  stripped  of  all  her 
rights,  her  dignity,  and  her  power." 

Her  rank  among  the  states  of  Europe  lost,  her  constitution 
canceled,  and  old  College  green,  with  her  gifted  orators,  now 
passing  into  story! 

At  last  the  moment  for  decision  came.  The  destiny  of  a 
nation  was  in  the  balance.  Below  sat  the  craven  coitrts,  lords 
and  commoners,  with  a  quota  of  British  clerks  and  officers 
smuggled  in  to  vote  away  the  constitution  of  a  country  and  the 
liberty  of  a  people.  An  awful  silence  like  that  of  doom  came 
over  all.  There  was  no  countenance  to  which  the  heart  did  not 
dispatch  some  messenger. 

The  speaker  rose  slowly  from  his  chair,  alas,  to  occupy  it 
never  again  as  presiding  oifficer  in  an  Irish  ]3arliament.  Out 
(n^er  the  historic  gathering  he  cast  one  last  lingering  glance. 
His  eyes  met  the  gaze  of  a  faithful  few,  Grattan,  Plunkett,  and 

the  rest. 

Their  lonelv  look  betokened  not  the  faintest  ray  of  hope. 


REV.   MICHAEL  J,  McKENNA  131 

He  held  up  the  accursed  bill  in  deathlike  silence.  No  one 
moved,  not  a  voice  was  heard,  not  even  a  whisper  among  the 
benches. 

He  looked  steadily  about  him  on  the  last  agony  of  the  ex- 
IDiring  parliament.  But  a  moment  more  and  another  chapter 
would  be  written  in  the  olden  story  of  the  wreck  of  states.  Ire- 
land will  be  fallen  and  College  green  will  stand  like  all  the  lone- 
ly ruins  of  the  land  to  remind  Irishmen  of  what  they  had  been 
once  and  now  to  tell  them  what  they  are  no  more.  With  their 
eyes  averted  from  the  object  that  they  hated,  the  spectators 
heard  the  speaker  put  the  awful  question. 

'^All  in  favor  of  this  bill  say  'Aye,'  "  and  ayes  to  the  num- 
ber of  200  echoed  through  the  rafters  of  that  classic  hall. 

The  final  verdict  had  been  spoken;  the  fatal  climax  had 
been  reached. 

Screams  and  hisses  rent  the  galleries;  women  fainted, 
strong  men  wept  like  new-made  orphans.  Betrayed,  dispirit- 
ed, broken-hearted,  they  watched  the  speaker  till  he  flung  the 
cursed  bill  away.  The  tragic  scene  was  ended  and  Ireland  in- 
dependent was  no  more. 

Thus,  friends,  was  the  country  of  our  fathers,  in  which 
four-fifths  of  the  population  had  no  voice,  no  vote,  no  say,  de- 
graded to  a  province  of  the  British  empire.  As  Irishmen, 
through  whose  veins  courses  blood  as  pure  as  the  purest  in  the 
world,  now  tempered  by  a  soil  which  makes  it  the  ])roudest  and 
the  best,  as  Irish  Yankees;  do  not  forget  this  fact.  Repeat  it 
often,  tell  it  everywhere,  that  'twas  through  Saxon  gold  and  not 
the  votes  of  Irishmen  that  the  Union  act  of  1800  passed;  that 
'twas  through  landlordism  and  the  treachery  of  Ulster  Orange- 
men, and  never  by  the  consent  of  our  Catholic  fathers,  that  Ire- 
land as  a  nation  was  extinguished. 

Among  the  spectators  in  the  gallery  who  watched  the  un- 
holy scene  that  had  taken  place  below,  was  a  young  law^^er 
who  would  one  day  stir  the  world.  He  gazed  out  over  the  dead 
parliament  of  his  country,  tarried  awhile  beside  its  bier,  fol- 
lowed its  cortege  to  the  Dublin  streets,  heard  the  bells  in  Irish 
steeples  ring  out  a  mournful  tune  for  Ireland's  degradation. 

Their  sound  and  the  gruesome  tragedy  just  enacted  so  fren- 
zied him  that  his  blood  boiled,  and  he  vowed  that  night,  if  God 
would  help  him,  the  foul  dishonor  would  not  last,  and  the  libel- 
ous union  would  one  day  be  repealed. 

''The  act  just  passed,  amalgamating  my  country  and  Great 
Britain,  is  not,"  he  said,  "and  never  will  be  told  in  history  as 
the  work  or  the  will  of  Irishmen.  'Tis  an  outrageous  infamy. 
The  world  must  know  it. 


13  2  THE    CATHOLIC    EMANCIPATION    PERIOD 

'Tis  false  as  the  blackest  libel  ever  written  on  the  records 
of  the  damned."  That  lawyer  was  the  immortal  emancipator 
of  his  race,  the  great  O'Connell. 

And  now  began  the  memorable  pait  that  God  intended  he 
shonld  play  in  history.  While  yet  in  the  tender  years  of  man- 
hood he  consecrated  his  gifted  life  entirely  to  the  nation's  great 
reforms,  emancipation  and  repeal.  Emancipation,  the  uncon- 
ditional freedom  of  his  countrymen  to  worship  God  as  oJden 
revelation  and  their  conscience  told  them  and  not  as  English 
hicre  or  Saxon  lash  had  failed  to  make  them,  and  repeal,  the 
absolute  amendment  of  the  execrable  robbery-  perpetrated 
against  his  people  in  the  late  parliament  of  Ireland. 

Catholic  emancipation  and  the  repeal  of  ihe  union  became 
what  millions  deemed  as  hopeless,  the  cherished  life  task  of 
O'Connell.  He  choose  the  darkest  penod  in  all  the  history  of 
his  country  to  sound  the  trumpet  of  her  resurrection.  Not  with 
cruel  arms,  as  marked  all  former  struggles  of  his  country  with 
her  foes,  but  with  such  weapons  rather  as  God  and  nature  had 
intended  in  all  the  great  affairs  of  life  and  conscience  would  he 
face  the  enemy  and  fight  the  cause  of  Ireland. 

Xot  as  a  soldier  with  a  musket,  buc  as  a  man  with  an  intel- 
lect, did  he  depart  to  battle,  first  for  the  God-born  rights  of 
Irishmen  as  Catholics,  and  next  in  turn,  for  the  constitutional 
rights  of  Irishmeri  now  as  subjects  of  lhe  British  crown. 

For  nine  and  twenty  years  the  first  great  struggle  lasted. 
One  by  one,  he  met  and  mastered  England's  foremost  states- 
men, among  them  Pitt  and  Peel  and  Wellington. 

O'Conuell's  first  official  act  as  leader  in  the  terrific  struggle 
for  the  religious  freedom  of  his  people  was  to  organize  the  Cath- 
olic board.  He  then  went  forth  amongst  the  nation  and  en- 
deavored with  all  the  power  of  his  electric  eloquence  to  rouse 
them  from  their  stupor.  He  asked  them  for  their  manhood's 
sake,  for  the  honor  of  their  Melician  ancestors,  nay,  for  the  glory 
of  the  Creator,  in  the  -name  of  God  to  lift  u])  their 
heads. 

As  their  heaven-appointed  leader  he  would  bring  them  out 
of  the  house  of  British  bondage,  would  win  for  them  religious 
freedom  if  they  would  but  hear  him  and  obey.  But  they  feared 
him  from  the  first,  and  would  not  listen. 

Ah,  was  it  any  wonder!  They  realized  too  well  that  they 
were  Catholics,  crushed  for  ages  under  the  heel  of  brutal  mas- 
ters. Was  it  any  wonder  they  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  his  entreat- 
ies ?  He  was  but  an  Irishman,  a  Catholic,  like  themselves,  hold- 
ing out  to  them  the  promise  of  a  bright  something  which  upon 
this  earth  they  no  longer  hoped  to  see. 

They  heard  his  bold  expressions,  and  more  than  ever  feared 


REV.   MICHAEL  J.   McKENNA  133 

for  the  only  treasure  left  them.  0  God:  The  last  relic  of  their 
nation's  fadeless  jDast,  which  tyranny  never  tarnished.  The  last 
fragment  of  the  ancient  pride  and  greatness  of  imperial  Ire- 
land, their  holy  church. 

"O,  Christ  of  the  winepress  and,  Golgotha,"  cried  the 
whipiDed  and  stricken  Gael.  "Put  down  this  madman  ere  the 
Saxon  wolves  shall  with  renewed  and  still  more  savage  fury 
turn  upon  us."  So  deeply  had  the  iron  of  oppression  entered 
the  Irish  soul  that  they  made  no  complaint  to  sacrifice  every- 
thing on  earth,  save  God  and  virtue. 

Their  homes,  the  lands  that  were  theirs  since  the  dawn  of 
history,  the  products  of  the  fields,  and  education,  all  such  they 
cared  not  for. 

Yea,  they  would  go,  like  cattle,  dumb-driven,  to  the  polls, 
and  vote  against  their  own  best  interests,  what  matter?  The 
obligation  to  support  an  alien  school,  an  alien  minister,  good 
God.  Think  of  that,  in  civilized  Europe,  and  in  the  18tli  cen- 
tury, did  not  seem  cruel  while  the  right  was  theirs  to  worship 
Christ  and  honor  His  virgin  mother  even  in  nature's  temple, 
out  on  the  lonely  mountain,  with  their  only  friend  through  thick 
and  thin,  their  only  father  in  woe  and  weak  about  them,  their 
Sogarth  Aroon,  poor  and  persecuted,  oft  ill-clad  and  hungry, 
leading  them  on  to  the  hills  of  eternal  peace  and  freedom  with 
God  in  heaven.  That  was  all  they  wanted  now;  all  hope  beside 
was  smothered  in  the  Irish  breast. 

Said  an  eminent  statesman  who  visited  Ireland  at  the  time, 
^'I  have  seen  the  Indian  in  his  wigwam  and  the  negro  in  his 
chains;  but  the  condition  of  the  Irish  peasant  is  worse  than 
that  of  the  savage  or  the  slave. ' '  O,  death  forever  to  the  cruel 
code,  which  starved  and  pauperized  and  did  its  diabolical  best 
to  brutalize  the  millions  of  my  race. 

Yes;  cursed  eternally  be  the  law  which  made  it  felony  for 
my  sires  to  lift  a  hand  or  freely  breathe  God 's  air.  And  shame, 
everlasting  shame,  to  the  men  who  forced,  in  a  single  land  and 
generation,  nearly  5,000,000  of  their  fellows  into  base  illiteracy. 

For  less  provocation  did  the  Belgian  bourgeoisie  ignore 
their  union;  for  less  provocation  far  did  the  phlegmatic  Hol- 
landers burst  their  dykes  and  let  in  the  sea,  and  for  less  infinite- 
ly did  the  rebels  of  America  grapple  with  the  lion  of  British  tyr- 
anny and  win  in  the  heraldry  of  nations  an  honored  place  for 
our  stars  and  stripes  forever. 

At  the  Sunday  Mass  the  sogarth  l)egan  to  whisper  that  in 
foreign  lands  the  name  of  a  brave  Irishman  was  meeting  with 
acclaim. 

In  all  the  courts  of  Europe,  off  in  free  America,  in  distant 


134  THE    CATHOLIC    EMANCIPATION    PERIOD 

India  and  Anstralia,  and  parts  elsewhere  throngliout  the  globe, 
millions  mnltiplied  were  sounding  the  praises  of  O'Connell,  and 
speaking  words  of  love  and  sjanpathy  for  his  people.  The  civ- 
ilized world  was  behind  the  emancipator  and  his  cause. 

The  Irish  peasantry  awoke.  They  became  convinced  that 
their  fears  had  hitherto  concealed  the  transcendent  genius  of 
their  valorous  countryman,  who,  single-handed,  braved  the 
wrath  and  defied  the  power  of  mighty  England.  They  arose 
and  swore  they  would  be  free.  They  would  follow  their  gallant 
chieftan  whithersoever  he  might  lead  them. 

Then  the  liberator  marshalled  them  about  him,  formed 
them  into  one  vast  myriad  phalanx  that  elicited  for  him  the 
admiration  and  plaudits  of  the  civilized  world.  Throughout 
the  land  from  the  center  to  the  sea,  he  called  together  aristo- 
crat and  peasant,  lay  and  cleric,  priest  and  people.  'Twould  be 
the  nation's  final  dash,  jjerhaps,  for  freedom.  He  called  it  the 
Catholic  association.  In  it  the  country  became  a  unit,  and  the 
allegiance  shown  its  chief  was  grander  far  in  all  respects  than 
ever  was  that  of  Saxon  military  to  its  king  or  Koman  legion  to 
its  Caesar. 

A  penny  a  month  from  every  peasant  and  a  pound  from 
each  among  the  gentry  brought  millions  to  propagate  the  cause. 

Ladies  and  gentlemen,  consult  the  entire  range  of  history, 
and  on  no  page  thereof  will  you  read  where  armies  ever  dis- 
ciplined a  nation  as  O'Connell  disciplined  Ireland,  with  no  other 
weapon  than  the  cross  and  no  code  save  the  law  of  divine  relig- 
ion. We  would  gladly  delineate  the  doctrine  of  O'Connell,  even 
in  detail  to  do  it  justice,  but  the  time  is  not  at  our  disposal. 
With  the  British  constitution  he,  single  handed,  sought  to  make 
that  historic  document  that  governed  millions  serve  the  inter- 
ests of  the  millions,  and  not  of  Irish  millions  only,  but  of  all  the 
millions  scattered  throughout  the  vast  empire  of  Great  Britain. 

And  the  result  ?  Read  the  answer  for  yourselves.  'Tis  the 
history  of  100  years  told  in  all  the  lands  that  belt  the  globe.  No 
arms,  no  war,  no  misconduct  of  any  kind,"  he  said. 

''Honor  the  crown,  respect  the  ministers,  be  obedient  to 
authority,  act  always  within  the  limits  of  the  law,"  and  with 
the  millions  of  his  countrymen  would  O'Connell  form  a  tremen- 
dous thunderbolt  with  which  he'd  shatter  the  omnipotence  of 
that  age-old  sinecure,  which  the  present  discij^le  of  O'Connell, 
the  gallant  Redmond,  is  now  dragging  down  to  an  inglorious 
defeat,  the  British  House  of  Lords. 

And  let  me  add  right  here,  that  the  real  enemy,  the  persist- 
ent adversary  of  the  civil  and  religions  freedom  of  the  Irish 
people  is  today,  and  has  been  for  centuries,  the  man  who  claims 


REV.   MICHAEL  J.  McKENNA  135 

to  be  clad  in  the  Alniiglity's  livery,  and  who  sits,  by  virtue  of 
his  office,  a  state  bishop  in  that  August  assembly.  0,  history, 
what  Christly  charity  is  here.  But  'tis  the  Sabbath,  so,  in  gen- 
uine charity,  let's  pass  this  chapter  and  proceed. 

And  lo!  Look,  looming  in  the  distance,  the  first  grand  re- 
sults of  the  liberator 's  preaching.  By  the  act  of  1795,  40-  shil- 
ling men,  generally  day  laborers,  or  at  best  small  farmers,  were 
given  the  right  of  franchise.    Clare  was  open. 

Send  me  to  parliament,"  said  O'Connell.  ''The  liberator 
for  parliament,"  cried  the  Irish.  "\Miat ?  They  who  till  now 
had  been  prostrate  and  apparently  forever  slaves,  depending  on 
the  omnipotent  landlord  for  their  bread,  their  Jiomes,  nay,  their 
very  lives,  they  who  for  years  had  been  driven  to  the  polls  like 
cattle,  and  voted  just  as  ordered;  they  claiming  a  representa- 
tive in  parliament,  and  he  a  Papist?    Even  so?    Even  so. 

The  time  for  the  fulfillment  of  the  olden  prophecy  that 
emancipation  would  be  won  only  when  an  Irish  Catholic  would 
be  sent  to  parliament  had  arrived.  The  liberator  avowed  he'd 
stand  for  Clare.    And  the  result  ? 

The  fetters  of  landlordism,  the  Irish  peasantry  broke 
asunder.  The  olden  habit  of  servility  they  scorned,  and  man- 
fully cast  away,  and  then  like  God's  own  freemen,  couae  what 
might,  they  elected  O'Connell  by  a  grand  and  unique  majority. 
Ireland  was  wild  with  exultation,  and  from  every  altar  a  sin- 
cere thanksgiving  hymn  went  soaring  to  the  ear  of  God. 

All  earthly  lands  were  looking  on  in  admiration.  Peel  and 
Wellington  stood  aghast.  In  all  the  years  of  struggle,  O'Con- 
nell had  outpointed  them  at  every  parry.  He  fought  them  not 
by  night  in  the  fastnesses  of  his  Irish  mountains,  but  in  the  open 
day  within  easy  hearing  of  king  and  parliament.  They  found 
him  an  undaunted  warrior  with  a  warrior  people  at  his  beck. 

Ere  it  is  all  too  late,  thought  the  man  whom  accident  had 
made  the  hero  of  Waterloo,  justice  must  be  shown  these  Irish. 
Through  them  in  no  small  part,  was  America  lost  to  the  British 
crown  forever.  Through  them  were  the  hopes  of  England 
crushed  at  Fontenoy.  Through  them  the  history  of  the  world 
was  changed  at  "Waterloo.  Their  names  are  emblazoned  high 
on  all  victorious  battlements  of  the  earth,  and  if  driven  on  by 
tyranny  to  a  last  extreme,  who  knows  but  God  what  might  en- 
sue? 

Wellington  was  right.  The  Iron  Duke  jiad  clashed  with 
the  mighty  forces  of  old  France,  had  measured  swords  and 
crushed  the  hopes  of  Europe's  foremost  soldier.  Napoleon  Bon- 
aparte. But  Arthur  looked  for  no  erring  Grouchy,  he  looked 
for  no  blundering  lieutenant  here,  the  forces,  their  general,  the 


136  THE    CATHOLIC    EMANCIPATION    PERIOD 

battleground,  the  cause,  all  were  different  now.  He  knew  the 
history  of  the  race  with  whom  he  dealt,  and  realized  the  tem- 
perament of  their  leader. 

He  admitted,  as  did  parliament,  something  must  be  done. 
The  inevitable  had  arrived.  Qualified  emancipation?  No,  no; 
not  qualified  emancipation.  That  unrivaled  galaxy  of  immortal 
genius,  the  noble  hearted  Protestants,  Burke  and  Curran,  Grat- 
tan  and  Plunkett,  the  best  friends  that  Ireland  ever  had,  were 
too  long  mocked  with  the  promise  of  this  which  never  saw  ful- 
fillment.   O'Connell  spurned  the  offer. 

Nothing  short  of  unconditional  religious  freedom  would 
satisfy  him  and  his  Irish  now.  A  bill  for  granting  such  was  in- 
troduced and  passed.  AVellington  sought  the  signature  of  the 
king,  and  Europe's  crowned  buffoon,  George  the  Fourth,  said 
"No."  On  bended  knee  Duke  Arthur  begged  his  royal  mas- 
ter to  sign  the  bill  so  necessary  for  the  welfare  of  the  realm. 
George  persisted. 

"But,  my  liege,  you  must,"  cried  Wellington.  .The  king 
again  said  "No." 

"For  the  peace  of  England  and  the  safety  of  your  sub- 
jects, sign,  I  ask. ' '    The  royal  George  said  ' '  Never. ' ' 

"Ah,  you  must;  you  must.  Ireland  is  a  unit,  is  on  the  verge 
of  war.  Millions  are  they  listening  to  s  leader  who  has  become 
the  idol  of  the  nation.  Yea,  even  the  trusted  soldiers  of  your 
army  cheer  and  follow  him  through  the  streets.  Sign,  my  liege, 
it  can't  be  helped." 

His  royal  highness  seized  the  pen  besmearing  the  docu- 
ment with  his  filthy  signature,  and  then  burst  into  tears.  Tears. 
0,  merciful  Master!  Thou  who  knowest  infinitely  well  the 
worth  of  every  tear!  What  tears  were  here!  What  a  picture 
of  repentance  might  religion  claim  foTcver  if  such  tears  were 
only  shed  in  sorrow  for  a  sinful  past. 

"He  did  not  weep,"  said  a  gifted  oi-ator  of  that  day,  "when 
he  broke  the  heart  of  his  poor  wife,  and  declared  her  before  the 
world  to  be  untrue.  He  did  not  weep  ai  the  ruin  of  every  form 
of  innocence  that  ever  came  before  him,  destroyed  and  polluted 
by  his  unholy  touch. 

"He  did  not  weep  when  he  left  Richard  Brinsley  Sheridan, 
his  own  friend,  to  die  of  starvation  in  a  London  garret.  No. 
He  had  not  tears  to  weep  for  the  blaclr  criminalities  of  a  low, 
lewd  life.  He  had  no  heart  to  feel.  He  was  never  known  to 
weep  in  his  life,  save  on  the  day  that  he  was  forced  to  sign  the 
bill  which  emancipated  a  stricken  people,  and  then  the  bloated 
voluptuary  wept  the  devil's  tears." 

And  so,  on  April  10,  1829,  one  of  the  most  important  meas- 


REV.   MICHAEL  J.  McKENNA  137 

ares  that  ever  engaged  the  attention  of  an  earthly  parliament, 
the  liberty  of  Catholic  conscience  throaghout  the  empire,  was 
added  forever  to  the  civil  statutes  of  Great  Britain.  Emanci- 
pation for  Catholic  Ireland  had  been  won.  'Twas  the  greatest 
of  O'Connell's  bloodless  triumphs  in  all  his  battling  with  an 
empire — a  victory  that  will  remain  forever  th'i  glory  of  his  na- 
tion, an  example  to  all  persecuted  peoples,  and  a  warning 
henceforth  to  the  governments  of  the  world. 

As  an  Irish  Catholic,  0 'Council  now  claimed  the  right  to 
occupy  a  seat  in  the  British  parliament.  He  was  refused.  He'd 
know  the  reason.  Ah,  the  lonely  graveyards  of  his  age-whipped 
country,  the  pathetic  story  of  her  blood -soaked  soil  for  centur- 
ies, might  eloquently  tell  the  reason. 

Yet  he  contested  his  claim,  and  with  success,  not  as  a 
Catholic,  nor  as  an  Irishman,  but  as  an  Irish  Catholic  subject 
of  the  crown.  'Midst  the  hilarious  shouts  of  the  sea-divided 
Gael,  the  liberator  had  wrested  from  the  Saxon  parliament  an- 
other victory.  The  British  lords  and  commoners  humbly  ac- 
knowledged O'Connell's  claim.  As  a  British  subject  would  he 
occupy  a  seat  in  ])roud  St.  Stephens;  as  an  Irish  Catholic  would 
he  represent  the  constituency  of  Clare. 

Ladies  and  gentlemen,  in  the  foremost  epics  of  the  world, 
poetic  genius  has  immortalized  scenes  not  a  whit  more  valor- 
ous than  the  conduct  of  the  liberator  on  the  day  he  entered  par- 
liament. 

As  a  boy  at  school  I  learned  of  the  valorous  Greek  Leon- 
idas,who,  with  300  men  and  the  advantage  of  position,  dared  to 
fight  10,000  at  Thermopylae,  but  never  was  I  told,  save  at  my 
mother's  knee,  of  a  weaponless  young  Irishman,  with  no  ad- 
vantage in  his  favor,  braving,  single-handed,  all  the  millions  of 
an  empire. 

Gaze  upon  the  picture  for  yourselves.  There  sat  the 
haughty  speaker,willing  to  favor  Ireland's  liberator  with  every- 
thing save  respect.  There  were  the  imperious  gouty  lords  who 
despised  O'Connell's  nationality,  and  hated  O'Connell's  creed. 
There,  too,  were  the  commoners  of  the  realm,  who  frowned  on 
the  mob  orator  of  the  Irish  hills  and  lii,<:hways,  whose  presence, 
they  said,  would  soon  cast  odium  upon  the  name  of  the  British 
house,  all  of  them  ready  to  greet  him  with  hisses  for  hurrahs, 
and  jibes  and  jeers  as  their  only  sign  of  welcome  to  the  new 
member  from  rebel  Ireland. 

The  speaker  motioned  O'Connell  to  advance,  and  requested 
him  to  take  the  oath.  The  liberator  hesitated,  looked  about 
him  for  a  moment.  Full  well  he  knew  that  in  every  man,  per- 
hai)s,   of  that  vast  assembly,  Ireland  and  Catholicism  could 


138  THE    CATHOLIC    EMANCIPATION    PERIOD 

count  an  enemy,  and  himself  not  a  single  friend.  Was  lie  abont 
to  deal  a  blow  to  Ireland  and  her  church  that  would  mean  to 
both  eternal  death  in  the  mind  of  every  Englishman  that  day 
present.    He  called  on  God  to  guide  him. 

Turning  to  the  chief  officer  of  the  house,  O'Connell  asked 
for  a  copy  of  the  oath.  Not  a  word.  Not  a  murmur  even  among 
the  benches.  Every  eye  was  riveted  fast  upon  him.  For  some 
moments  he  perused  the  document,  then,  looking  the  speaker 
full  straight  in  the  eye,  O'Connell  virtually  told  him  that  as  an 
Irish  Catholic,  not  all  the  bayonets'  of  the  British  Army  would 
make  him  take  that  oath. 

Drawing  himself  erect  and  glaring  back  defiance  at  that 
most  bigoted  of  assemblies,  he  said:  "That  portion  of  this  oath 
which  states  that  the  sacrifices  of  the  Mass,  the  invocation  of 
the  blessed  virgin  Mary  and  her  saints, as  practised  in  the 
church  of  Eome,  are  impious  and  idolatrous,  is  false."  And  as 
such,  though  he  were  refused  a  seat  in  parlaiment  forever,  he 
would  not  take  such  an  oath. 

What!  An  alien  and  a  Papist  express  himself  like  this, 
and  of  words  that  were  as  dear  to  every  Saxon  present  as  his 
mother's  grave!  Even  so.  "I  will  not  take  this  oath,"  O'Con- 
nell said,  "  'Tis  false." 

God  bless  the  Englishmen  who  heard  the  liberator's  words 
that  day.  To  a  man,  they  rose  and  cheered  hhn  as  he  left  the 
house. 

"He's  a  man,"  they  said,  "a  hero,  who  represents  the  val- 
or of  a  race;  a  soldier,  the  incarnation  of  his  people;  a  warrior, 
whom  oppression  cannot  down." 

O'Connell  sought  a  re-election,  was  returned  a  second  time 
for  Clare.  The  government  wisely  took  the  hint,  and  to  avoid 
further  friction  and  perhaps  of  a  far  more  fatal  nature,set  out 
at  once  to  correct  the  libelous  portion  of  the  oath. 

O'Connell  kept  his  word.  He  would  not  take  that  oath,  he 
said,  and  he  never  did,  as  originally  written,  till  the  insulting 
features  of  it  were  erased  clear  and  clean  and  forever  from  the 
statutes  of  Great  Britain. 

And  now  begins  the  most  brilliant  portion  of  our  story. 
'Tis  the  story  of  a  life,  which,  everything  considered,  from  a  hu- 
man point  of  view,  was  perhaps  the  most  pathetic  life  that  man 
had  ever  lived.  'Tis  a  period  of  something  less  than  20  years  of 
individual  effort,  yet  such  an  epoch  in  tJie  history  of  events  that 
to  treat  it  rightly  is  worthy  of  an  effort  mightier  for  than  any 
of  which  I  am  capable,  and  would  require  much  more  time  than 
you  could  afford  tonight. 

Face  to  face  with  the  triumphant  emancipator  of  his  race,  we 


REV.   MICHAEL  J.  McKENNA  13  9 

stand  once  more  to  watch  liim  now  in  his  nnrivalecl  agitation 
for  repeal.  'Tis  a  story  long  and  glorious,  as  it  is  lonely  and 
disheartening  to  every  Irishman.  Let  us  touch  upon  it 
briefly. 

At  an  age  when  most  men  begin  to  look  for  quiet  and  re- 
tirement, O'Connell  undertook  the  mightiest  mission  of  his  life. 
At  54,  with  all  the  buoyancy  of  seeming  youth,  and  in  full  pos- 
session of  such  gifts  that  no  statesman  of  his  day  or  since  has 
equaled,  he  began  his  famous  struggl?  for  repeal.  Eepeal  of 
the  union  had  been  his  great  ambition  since  that  memorable 
night,  back  in  College  green,  when  he  'oeheld  craven  statesmen 
barter  away  for  Saxon  favor  the  hopes  and  independence  of  his 
country. 

He  was  then  a  youth  unknown,  scorned  as  an  Irishman, 
persecuted  as  a  papist,  but  now  a  man  full  grown — the  foremost 
subject  of  the  realm — an  emancipated  Catholic  with  a  seat  in 
the  British  parliament  and  enjoying  a  name  that  was  on  the 
lips  of  men  in  well  nigh  every  hamlet  in  the  world.  From  the 
mob  orator,  whose  words  and  manners  would  disgrace  the  Brit- 
ish house,  he  became  the  first  orator  of  his  age,  the  banner 
statesman  of  the  empire,  the  parliamentarian  par  excellence 
among  the  states  of  Europe. 

His  maiden  effort  before  the  British  housa  was  pronounced 
a  masterpiece  worthy  to  live  as  long  as  the  tongue  in  which  ty- 
ranny had  forced  him  that  day  to  speak.  Blessed  by  nature 
with  the  brow  of  a  Jupiter,  the  stature  of  an  Apollo,  and  a  voice 
like  the  thundering  Tlior,  deep,  resonant,  and  unrivaled  sweet- 
ness that  rose  with  an  easy  and  melodious  swell,  he  swayed  at 
will  beyond  the  telling,  all  the  passions  of  a  multitude. 

O'Connell  aped  no  great  orator  of  any  parliament.  True, 
he  possessed  not  the  finished  philosophical  mind  of  his  gifted 
countryman,  Edmund  Burke,  nor  claimed  he  the  charming  dic- 
tion of  Lord  McCaullay,  but  in  each,  when  necessity  demanded, 
O'Connell  outshone  them  both.  No  man  of  his  generation  could 
reason  more  powerfully,  nor  state  a  case  more  clearly. 

His  logic  was  perfection;  his  language  simple,  often  vigor- 
ous, always  unadorned,  yet  pleasing  ever;  while  the  power  of 
declination,  never  overdone,  was  so  wonderful  in  the  man  that 
to  describe  it,  even  severest  critics  say,  would  be  a  failure. 

Even  our  own  silver-tongiied  American,  Wendell  Phillips, 
who  had  heard  all  the  great  orators  of  his  time,  among  them 
Webster,  Calhoun  and  Clay,  went  into  ecstasy  over  O'Connell's 
oratory,  and  made  him  the  peer  of  the  Eoman  Cicero.  A  fa- 
mous character,  who  could  not  tolerate  even  the  presence  of  an 
Irishman,  heard  the  liberator  once,  and  exclaimed  in  rapture: 


140  THE    CATHOLIC    EMANCIPATION    PERIOD 

''I  have  heard  the  orator  of  the  age.    That  is  the  man  and  those 
are  the  lips  that  speak  English  the  best  in  my  day." 

And  this,  friends,  was  the  man  whom  the  legislative  gen- 
tlemen of  St.  Stephens  feared  wonld  mar  the  dignity  and  high 
standing  of  their  respected  honse.  The  man  whose  life  deeds 
for  20  years  tell  the  wonderful  gtory  of  ' '  Eepeal. ' '  Ah,  but  they 
had  to  hear  him  only  once,  and  how  altogether  taken  back  they 
were.  They  marveled  at  the  wonderful  power  and  trans]Darent 
workings  of  his  mind.  Spellbound  they  watched  him  wield  the 
chisel  of  his  genius  with  all  the  grace  and  ease  of  a  master  hew- 
ing his  thoughts  into  images  of  sublime  aud  colossal  grandeur. 
But  if  so  gifted,  why  have  we  so  few  of  O'Connell's  speeches? 
Because  bigoted  men  would  not  report  him.  When  he  arose, 
the  incarnation  of  the  Irish  soul,  a  man  full  of  fury  to  open  the 
flaming  battery  of  his  scorn,  invective  and  vituperation  upon 
some  member  who  had  assailed  his  cause,  his  religion  or  his 
people,  they  listened  but  would  not  write,  and  though  they  did, 
the  British  journals  would  not  print  O'Connell's  efforts. 

And  so  his  speeches  that  would  now  stand  out  among  the 
finest  specimens  in  forensic  oratory,  masterpieces  of  parliamen- 
tary eloquence,  have  been  lost  to  literature  forever.  Not  as  a 
parliamentarian,  however,  not  as  a  statesman,  nor  as  an  orator, 
but  as  a  leader  of  a  people  in  their  mighty  fight  for  civil  and  re- 
ligious freedom  will  O'Connell  live  and  be  remembered  during 
all  the  future  ages  of  humanity. 

* '  The  greatest  leader  that  the  world  has  ever  known, ' '  was 
the  magnificent  eulogium  of  O'Connell  by  that  eminent  states- 
man, the  English  Gladstone.  ''The  greatest  leader  that  the 
world  has  ever  known,"  words  spoken  before  the  British  par- 
liament, of  the  immortal  agitator,  as  Gladstone  yet  recalled  him 
standing  on  the  very  pinnacle  of  his  glory,  when  nations  world- 
wide styled  him  the  great  King  Dan  of  Ireland. 

Though  in  ^^ears  grown  old,  a  man  past  68,  he  still  retained 
all  the  vigor  of  mind  and  displayed  all  the  physical  strength 
that  he  possessed  as  a  man  of  40.  He  stood  in  the  foremost 
rank  of  statesmen,  a  power  dreaded  and  detested  with  the  wliigs 
of  England  in  one  hand,  the  tories  in  the  other,  making  and 
breaking  ministries  as  a  parliamentary  pastime.  For  the  first 
time  in  200  years  that  any  Catholic  held  the  office,  he  had  just 
been  made  lord  mayor  of  Dublin, 

In  city  after  city  throughout  the  island,  the  Irish  flocked 
in  countless  thousands  to  salute  and  hear  their  chieftan.  Con- 
temperaneous  with  these  monster  gatherings  for  repeal,  another 
movement,  the  most  stupendous  morai  revolution  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  world,  was  taking  place. 


REV.  MICHAEL  J.  McKENNA  141 

The  vast  assemblies  who  listened  iu  wild  enthnsiasm  to  the 
liberator  responded  equally  to  the  bnrning  appeal  of  an  elo- 
qnent  friar,  the  immortal  advocate  of  temperance,  Fr.  Mathew. 
Marching-  behind  O'Connell  and  repeal.  Irish  millions  prondly 
held  aloft  as  the  nation's  badge,  the  banner  of  total  abstinence. 
At  last  the  climax  came,  'twas  lady  day  in  Angnst,  '-tS^ 
and  the  place  imiDerial  Tara.  It  was  the  crowning  day,  and 
alas  for  the  hopes  of  Ireland,  the  conclnding  trimnph  of  the 
liberator's  life.  Celebrated  victories  had  O'Connell  won  be- 
fore, victories  in  the  conrts,  victories  in  the  senate,  bnt  never 
was  there  victory  to  compare  with  this. 

Picture  him  as  best  you  can,  the  great  King  Dan  of  Ire- 
land, standing  on  the  summit  of  Eoyal  Tara  and  before  him  one 
vast  human  ocean,  800,000  of  the  flower  of  his  nation's  man- 
hood, for  an  audience. 

England  deigned  to  grace  the  occasion  in  her  usual  way; 
40,000  redcoats  were  on  hand  to  quell  the  unruly  Irish.  Had  she 
sent  one  redcoat  only,  history  tells  us  now,  one  redcoat  would 
have  been  sufficient.  There  was  no  disorder.  Ah!  But  there 
might  have  been. 

O'Connell  had  but  to  raise  a  finger  to  resent  this  latest  in- 
sult, and  that  day  would  have  marked  the  beginning  of  a  long 
and  horrid  war  that  England  might  have  rued  forever.  To 
goad  them  on,  he  need  but  remind  them  of  the  memorable  hill 
on  which  they  stood — Tara.  0,  what  a  flood  of  ancient  memor- 
ies, what  a  storm  of  national  sentiment  would  not  the  mention 
of  that  hill  awaken  in  the  minds  and  hearts  of  that  vast  human 
ocean.  Tara,  that  old  assembly  place,  where  met  Milesian 
chiefs  with  their  unbeaten  clans  of  imperial  Erin. 

Eomautic  Tara,  where  sang  the  bai'ds.  Royal  Tara,  where 
live  the  kings.  Catholic  Tara,  Avliere  the  apostle  of  the  nation, 
Patrick,  1600  years  before,  with  the  weapon  of  the  cross,  had 
stormed  the  citadel  of  paganism  and  won  over  to  the  religion 
of  the  crucified  the  Irish  race  forever. 

Immortal  Tara,  with  its  checkered  story  of  -tOOO  years.  O 
what  harm  national  sentiment  could  have  worked  that  day, 
what  havoc  O'Connell  could  have  wrought  on  that  occasion 
among  those  countless  thousands  of  repealers. 

But  no,  they  held  their  peace  and  looked  toward  Clontarf, 
where  the  last  great  meeting  would  be  held.  There  was  meth- 
od in  O'Connell 's  movements.  ''Tara  and  the  kings,  Clontarf 
and  the  Danes."  There  were  volumes,  countless  volumes,  in 
those  words. 

But  0  'Connell  and  his  followers  never  met  on  that  historic 
field.    Parliament  would  not  have  it;  England  was  afraid.    The 


142  THE    CATHOLIC    EMANCIPATION    PERIOD 

outcome  of  Ireland's  struggle  for  repeal  as  yet  remains  uncer- 
tain. Competent  hands,  however,  laid  the  foundation  long  ago, 
and  with  perfect  finish. 

Perhaps  even  now,  despite  strike  and  strife  and  religious 
hatred,  despite  the  rancor  of  Ulster  Orangemen  and  the  atti- 
tude of  unfriendly  lords,  even  now,  under  the  honest  and  great- 
hearted George  V,  the  second  crowned  head  in  seven  centuries 
kindly  disposed  toward  Ireland,  and  with  the  aid  of  the  Asquith 
government,  will  O'Connell's  gorgeous  edifice  to  Ireland  be 
completed.  However,  let  the  outcome  be  as  it  may,  one  thing 
at  least  is  certain,  the  magnitude  and  the  grandeur  which  the 
liberator  threw  into  his  colossal  agitation  for  repeal  will  make 
it  conspicuous  in  history  forever. 

Next  came  the  monster  trial  in  which  the  gray-haired 
chief  tan  was  charged  with  the  crime  of  treason.  For  well  nigh 
50  years  England  had  tried  to  shatter  the  ambition  of  O'Con- 
nell.  To  defeat  him  legislative  opposition  had  proved  fruitless. 
'Twas  his  boast,  and  he  kept  his  word,  he'd  drive  a  coach  and 
four  through  any  act  of  the  British  parliament. 

Even  Destere  with  his  pistol  and  Orangemen  with  his 
poison,  had  not  succeeded.  Parliament  had  broken  his  purse, 
but  never  his  hopes,  by  foul  injustice.  And  now  came  the  foul- 
est, the  crudest  and  most  cowardly  aci:  of  all. 

Into  their  courts  of  so-called  justice  they  dragged  a  cham- 
pion of  British  liberty  and  charged  him,  an  aged  man,  with  the 
crime  of  treason.  Oh,  Lord.  Infinitely  knowing  and  all  just, 
what  a  charge  was  here.  A  man  who  l3ut  a  few  days  ])revious 
had  bowed  in  meek  submission  before  a  shameful  legislation,  a 
man  who  might  have  marshaled  his  Irish  millions  upon  that  old 
historic  battlefield,  where  their  ancestors  in  ages  past  had  met 
the  Danes  and  driven  them  into  the  nearby  sea;  a  man  who, 
maddened  by  tyranny  to  the  last,  might  have  met  his  country- 
ment  at  Clontarf  and  inflamed  their  passions  to  unprecedented 
fury,  telling  them  that  the  intolerable  pressure  of  hopeless 
wrong  was  upon  the  nation;  and  then  displaying  all  the  povrer 
of  his  electric  eloquence,  might  have  staggered  humanity  with 
the  command:  "Century-long  ill-treated  countryment,  dis- 
perse, kill,  burn,  destroy  every  vestige  of  civilization  in  your 
land;  leave  the  entire  island  black  and  desolate;  then,  with  no 
country  left  you,  no  hope,  no  home,  and  life  itself  a  weary  bur- 
den, turn  for  vengeance  upon  the  age-long  enemies  of  your 
creed  and  race,  and  wreck  their  blasted  empire. ' ' 

But  no.  Till  now  he  had  bravely  suffered  every  phase  and 
form  of  wrong,  cruelty,  injustice,  oppression  from  the  stranger, 
ingratitude,  insult  and  calumny  from  his  own.    One  only  ill  re- 


REV.   MICHAEL  J.   McKENNA  143 

mained  that  lie  might  suffer  for  his  country — imprisonmeut — 
and  O'Connell  went  to  jail  for  Ireland. 

The  English  House  of  Lords  regretted  the  shameful  action 
of  the  courts,  and  after  three  months'  detention,  nuUitied  the 
sentence.  The  liberator  came  forth  exonerated,  but  not  the 
dashing,  valorous  Dan  of  old.  ,  Notwithstanding  he  was  still  ac- 
knowledged the  leader,  more  than  ever  the  idol  of  the  people. 
As  if  by  miracle,  he  became  of  a  sudden  young  again,  strong, 
earnest,  the  vigorous  man  of  old.  As  a  victorious  revolutionist 
who  had  changed  the  destiny  of  a  people  without  blood  or 
crime,  he  had  thus  far  led  his  nation  out  of  the  house  of  religi- 
ous bondage,  ^had  led  them  on  through  all  the  perils  of  the 
stormiest  sea  of  civil  strife  that  the  world  has  even  known ;  and 
now,  reanimated  with  the  hope  that  conies  of  God,  and  which 
bears  with  it  success,  as  the  heaven-appointed  Moses  of  the 
Irish,  the  liberator  of  Ireland's  faith  set  out  with  his  people 
toward  the  promised  land  of  civil  freedom. 

He  stood  on  the  topmost  crest  of  hope's  high  mountain. 
With  confidence  in  God,  he'd  make  one  final  eifort  to  obtain 
the  nation's  long-sought  boon,  civil  freedom.  He  looked  below, 
and  to  his  discouragement  and  disgust,  beheld  the  people  in  the 
valley  committing  their  old-time  sin,  disunion.  0,  that  olden 
fault  that  has  been  so  fatal  ever  to  the  Jiopes  of  Ireland  and  the 
happiness  of  Irishmen. 

Eebel  captains  had  risen  up  in  opposition  to  the  peaceful 
plan  and  methods  of  the  aged  chief  tan.  The  gentry  wanted 
war;  the  peasantry  to  a  man  cried  no,  and  adhered  strictly  to 
the  principles  of  the  liberator  as  the  only  means  of  success  for 
Ireland.  The  olden  tale  of  centuries  l7"»ld  once  more  anew — 
dissension,  division,  disunion,  defeat — decripit  now,  dispirited 
and  broken  in  his  hopes,  the  old,  unbeaten  hero  resigned  his 
commission  as  leader  of  the  fight. 

Meagher  was  as  brave  a  soldier  as  ever  drew  a  sword  or 
donned  a  uniform;  Davis  as  true  a  bard  as  ever  touched  the  hTe 
to  tune  a  nation's  songs;  Duffy  was  a  patriot,  McGee  a  scholar, 
but  in  their  opposition  to  O'Connell,  young  Ireland  did  their 
country  a  cruel  and  lasting  wrong.  Tonight  history  writes  their 
names  as  the  leaders  of  a  lost  and  fatal  cause. 

The  good  chieftan  was  weary  and  alone.  His  personal 
struggle  for  repeal  was  over.  His  life  as  a  man  in  public  ended. 
Never  again  would  he  appear  in  the  British  arena  as  the  un- 
lieaten  warrior  of  his  people  to  battle  for  their  freedom;  no 
more,  save  once,  would  he  face  his  olden  adversaries  upon  that 
historic  floor.  Not  as  the  religious  or  political  gladiator,  facing 
the  British  lion  in  his  fight  for  Go(i  and  countrv,  but  as  a  men- 


144  THE    CATHOLIC    EMANCIPATION    PERIOD 

dicant,  yes,  as  such,  his  country's  beggar,  asking  ahns  of  Al- 
bion— which  brings  up  to  the  final  point  of  our  evening's  story, 
that  awful  famine  which  laid  Irekmd  desolate,  almost  a  univer- 
sal wake,  in  '-17. 

Old,  haggard,  pale,  emaciated,  the  broken  tribune  stood 
before  the  house,  but  a  picture  of  his  former  self.  A  faint  smile 
crossed  his  face  as  he  referred  in  a  feeble  voice  to  the  memor 
able  scenes  of  other  days.  Parliament  wept;  even  coursing 
down  the  cheeks  of  those  who  were  once  his  inveterate  enemies 
might  be  seen  that  day  the  manly  tear  of  grief  and  pity. 

Ah !  They  need  not  fear  him  now  He  was  the  great  0  '- 
Connell  no  more.  In  tones  scarcely  audible  he  spoke  of  the 
valor  and  the  magnanimity  of  his  people.  He  spoke  of  Trafal- 
gar and  Badajoes,  told  them  how  Irish  courage  and  Irish  prow- 
ess had  stayed  the  mad  ambition  of  Napoleon  to  wreck  the  em- 
pire, once  by  land  and  again  by  sea.  "They  fought  and  won 
the  battles  of  your  empire,  sirs.  Now,  famine  is  upon  them. 
Millions  are  they  starving;  yes,  countless  thousands  of  my  peo- 
ple clamoring  for  bread,  are  dying  in  the  ditches. ' '  With  tears 
streaming  from  his  eyes,  he  begged  rich  England  to  he]])  poor 
Ireland  in  her  awful  hunger. — The  Catholic  Messenger,  Worces- 
ter, Mass. 


John   F.   O'Connor 


John  Francis  O'Connor  is  a  native  of  Worcester, 
Mass.,  son  of  John  J.  O'Connor  and  Johanna  (Daly) 
O'Connor.  He  was  educated  in  the  Worcester  piibhc 
schools,  graduating  from  the  Classical  High  School  in 
1879.  He  graduated  from  Holy  Cross  College  in  1882. 
He  was  then  appointed  diocesan  student  to  the  College 
of  the  Propaganda  in  Rome,  Italy,  by  the  late  Bishop 
O'Reilly.  In  1884,  he  received  the  degree  of  A.  M. 
from  Holy  Cross  College. 

Mr.  0  'Connor  served  as  representative  in  the  Mas- 
sachusetts Legislature  during  the  years  1885,  1886,  and 
1887,  and  while  a  member  introduced  the  bill  which 
provided  for  the  establishment  of  evening  high  schools 
in  Massachusetts.  Mr.  O'Connor  was  admitted  to  the 
Massachusetts  Bar  in  1888.  He  served  for  six  years  as 
a  member  of  the  Board  of  the  Directors  of  the  Worces- 
ter Public  Library.  During  the  years  1890,  1891,  1892, 
he  was  principal  of  the  High  School  in  Blackstone, 
Mass.  In  1898,  the  year  of  the  Spanish  War,  he  was 
chosen  by  Post  10,  G.  A.  R.,  to  deliver  the  Memorial 
Day  address  at  the  soldiers  monument  upon  the  com- 
mon. He  has  been  a  teacher  of  English  literature  in 
the  Worcester  English  High  School  since  its  opening 
in  September,  1892. 


^^■i-^-'Z^-i-f''X-' « 


iHift  iFamto  tn  IBm 


1846 — 1870 
BY 


JOHN   F.   O'CONNOR 


A  famous  French  author  avows  his  preference  for  absohit- 
ism  under  certain  circumstances,  declaring  it  better  to  be  ruled 
by  one  lion  at  a  distance  than  by  a  pack  of  wolves  at  your  door. 
The  illustration  is  defective,  inasmuch  as  it  overlooks  the  hun- 
gry jackals  that  always  attend  the  footsteps  of  such  "lions;" 
yet,  borrowing  the  figure,  we  deliberately  affirm  that  the  people 
of  Ireland  would  have  more  to  rejoice  at  than  regret,  were  the 
most  rigid  despotism  of  the  Orient  substituted  tomorrow  for  the 
monstrous  mockery  of  "Constitutionalism"  under  which  they 
are  now  strangled.  A  bold  assertion  to  make;  ridiculous,  some 
will  call  it;  but  its  literal  truth  is  capable  of  the  clearest  de- 
monstration. For  with  the  exception  of  a  few  measures,  nota- 
bly the  Land  Act  of  1903,  from  its  earliest  act  to  its  latest,  Eng- 
land's legislation  for  Ireland,  has  been  what  the  Abolitionists 
with  stinging  brevity  described  negro  slavery  to  be — "the  sum 
of  all  villanies. ' '  Let  me  give  a  few  quotations  from  pens  which 
can  scarcely  be  accused  of  any  blind  partiality  toward  Ireland: 

"The  uniform  policy  of  England  has  been  to  deprive  Ire- 
land of  the  use  of  her  own  resources,  and  make  her  subservient 
to  the  interests  and  the  opulance  of  the  English  people. ' ' — Wil- 
liam Pitt. 

"Ireland  has  been  uniformly  plundered  and  oppressed." — ■ 
Junius, 

"This  is  not  the  slander  of  Junius  nor  the  candor  of  Pitt; 
it  is  history." — Chief  Justice  Bushe. 

"A  union  was  the  only  means  of  preventing  Ireland  becom- 
ing too  great  and  powerful." — Cooke. 

"England  first  denied  Irishmen  the  means  of  improve- 
ment, and  then  insulted  them  with  the  imputation  of  barbar- 
ism. ' ' — Paulding. 


146  THE  FAMINE  TO  187  0 

''The  poor  people  in  Ireland  are  vised  ^orse  than  negroes 
by  their  lords  and  masters.  "^ — Lord  Chesterfield. 

''What  from  the  rapaeionsness  of  their  unfeeling  land- 
lords, and  the  restrictions  on  their  trade,  the  Irish  are  the  most 
wretched  people  on  earth." — Lord  Townshend. 

"I  must  say  from  all  accounts  and  from  my  own  observa- 
tion that  the  state  of  the  Irish  people  in  the  parts  I  have  named 
is  worse  than  that  of  any  people  in  the  world.' — General  Gor- 
don (1880). 

' '  The  land  of  Ireland,  like  the  land  of  every  other  country, 
belongs  to  the  people  who  inhabit  it;  and  when  the  inhabitants 
of  a  country  quit  it  in  tens  of  thousands  because  the  govern- 
ment does  not  leave  them  room  to  live  in  it,  that  government  is 
already  judged  and  condemned. ' ' — John  Stuart  Mill. 

"England  has  held  for  seven  centuries  to  the  lips  of  her 
sister  Ireland  a  poisoned  chalice.  Its  ingredients  were  the 
deepest  contempt,  the  most  unmeasured  oppression,  injustice 
such  as  the  world  hardly  saw  before." — Wendell  Phillips. 

"Ireland  is  the  most  deplorable  instance  of  modern  his- 
tory that  a  great  and  noble  people  may,  for  centuries  altogeth- 
er, be  involved  in  the  same  injustice  and  infatuation,  and  all 
the  highly  praised  forms  of  the  Constitution  be  paralyzed  by 
the  force  of  passion  and  prejudice.  Kings,  Lords,  and  Com- 
mons have,  alternately  or  simultaneously,  wronged  Ireland." 
— Von  Eaumer. 

"Before  you  refer  the  turbulence  of  the  Irish  to  incurable 
defects  in  their  character,  tell  me  if  you  have  treated  theui  as 
friends  and  as  equals.  Have  you  protected  their  commerce? 
Have  you  respected  their  religion?  Have  you  been  as  anxious 
for  their  freedom  as  your  own?  Nothing  of  all  this.  What 
then?  Why,  you  have  confiscated  the  territorial  surface  of  the 
country  twice  over;  you  have  massacred  and  exported  her  in- 
habitants; you  have  deprived  four-fifths  of  them  of  every  civil 
privilege;  you  have  made  her  commerce  and  manufactures  slav- 
ishly subordinate  to  your  own. ' ' — Sydney  Smith. 

*"Tlie  whole  scheme  of  L^nion  goes  upon  the  false  and  abom- 
inable presumption  that  we  could  legislate  better  for  the  Irish 
than  they  could  do  for  themselves — a  principle  founded  upon 
the  most  arrogant  despotism  and  tyranny.  There  is  not  a  more 
clear  axiom  in  the  science  of  politics  than  that  man  is  his  own 
natural  governor,  and  that  he  ought  to  legislate  for  himself. 
We  ought  not  to  presume  to  legislate  for  a  nation  in  whose  feel- 
ings and  affections,  wants  and  interests,  opinions  and  prejudic- 
es^we  have  no  sympathy." — Charles  James  Fox. 

"The  landlord  may  become  a  direct  oppressor.    He  may 


JOHN  F.  O'CONNOR  147 

care  nothing  for  the  people,  and  have  no  object  but  to  squeeze 
the  most  that  he  can  out  of  them.  The  Eussian  government  has 
been  called  despotism  tempered  with  assassination.  In  Ireland 
landlordism  was  tempered  by  assassination.  Ever}'  circum- 
stance combined  in  that  country  to  exasperate  the  relations 
between  landlord  and  tenant.  The  landlords  were,  for  the 
most  part,  aliens  in  blood  and  in  religion.  They  represented 
conquest  and  confiscation,  and  they  had  gone  on  from  genera- 
tion to  generation  with  an  indifference  for  the  welfare  of  the 
people  which  would  not  have  been  tolerated  in  England  or  Scot- 
land. ' ' — Froude. 

''The  bujk  of  the  Irish  people  are  tenants,  extremely  poor, 
living  in  the  most  sordid  wretchedness,  in!  dirty  hovels  of  mud 
and  straw,  and  clothed  only  in  rags.  Had  I  never  been  in  the 
American  colonies,  but  were  to  form  my  judgment  of  civil  so- 
ciety by  what  I  have  lately  seen,  I  should  never  advise  a  nation 
of  savages  to  admit  of  civilization,  for  I  assure  you  that  in  the 
possession  and  enjoyment  of  the  various  comforts  of  life,  com- 
pared to  these  people,  every  Indian  is  a  gentleman,  and  the  ef- 
fect of  this  kind  of  civilization  seems  to  be  the  depressing  mul- 
titudes below  the  savage  state,  that  a  few  may  be  raised  above 
it." — Benjamin  Franklin. 

"When,  therefore,  we  of  Irish  blood,  declare  England's  mis- 
rule of  Ireland  to  be  so  unspeakably  and  atrociously  cruel  as  to 
be  unparalleled  in  the  world's  history,  we  arraign  England 
only  as  she  has  been  arraigned  by  the  most  eminent  economists, 
historians  and  statesmen  of  the  world,  including  many  of  her 
own  distinguished  sons.  We  are  saying  of  her  only  what  Bea- 
consfield,  Bright  and  Gladstone  have  said  of  her.  In  brief  we 
are  arraigning  her  only  as  history  arraigns  her.  We  are  simply 
telling  the  truth. 

I  have  thus  far  spoken  only  in  a  general  way  of  England's 
maltreatment  of  Ireland.  Let  me  now  be  more  specific.  What 
has  been  the  general  result  to  Ireland  of  the  enforcd  partner- 
ship of  1801 — that  is,  of  British  imperialism?  I  can  reply  to 
this  question  best  by  the  test  of  comparison  with  other  coun- 
tries. W^ien  the  act  of  union  was  passed  Ireland  had  one-half 
the  population  of  Great  Britain,  three-and-a-quarter  times  that 
of  Scotland,  ten  times  that  of  Whales,  and  five  times  that  of  Lon- 
don. Today  her  population  is  about  one-eighth  of  that  of  Great 
Britain,  twenty  thousand  less  than  Scotland,  two  and  a  half 
times  that  of  Wales,  and  about  two  millions  less  than  that  of 
greater  London. 

Going  beyond  the  bounds  of  the  United  Kingdom,  we  find 
a  similar  progress  in  population  in  all  the  small  nations  of  Eu- 


148  THE  FAMINE  TO   1870 

rope,  without  a  single  exception.  Holland,  Belgium,  Norway^ 
Sweden,  Switzerland,  Bavaria,  Portugal,  Greece,  have  added 
more  than  fifty  per  cent  to  their  respective  populations  during 
the  last  fifty  years.  While  these  small  states  have  thus  in- 
creased their  populations,  through  the  guardian  care  of  nation- 
al liberty,  Ireland,  under  the  evil  influence  of  an  alien  rule,  has 
lost  a  hundred  per  cent  of  her  people.  In  this  respect  she  stands 
in  a  unique  position  among  civilized  lands,  there  being,  in  fact, 
no  parallel  in  the  history  of  Christian  nations  for  the  steady 
and  deadly  drain  of  population  away  from  a  country  blessed 
by  nature  with  resources  capable  of  sustaining  three  times  the 
present  number  of  the  inhabitants  of  Belgium. 

This,  however,  is  only  half  the  indictment  of  the  alien  rule. 
As  a  direct  result  of  this  fatal  weakening  of  Ireland's  vital  en- 
ergies, both  the  birth-rate  and  the  marriage-rate  of  the  country 
are  now  near  the  lowest  of  any  nation  in  Europe.  There  is, 
likewise,  an  alarming  increase  of  insanity  among  the  diminish- 
ing numbers;  a  fact  also  due  to  the  emigration  of  the  more  vir- 
ile of  the  people,  leaving  the  physically  impoverished  behind  to 
carry  on  the  racial  functions  of  human  development.  As  a 
further  comment  upon  all  this  decay  and  retrogression,  a  com- 
bined national  and  local  taxation,  which  amounted  to  a  total  of 
$10,000,000  a  year  under  an  Irish  parliament,  with  a  population 
equal  to  that  of  today,  is  now,  as  a  result  of  a  hundred  years  of 
England's  government,  over  $60,000,000  annually,  an  increase 
of  six  hundred  per  cent.  On  the  top  of  all  this,  there  is  the  fact 
that  there  is  far  more  pauperism  in  the  country  today  than 
there  was  thirty  years  ago,  when  Ireland  had  two  more  millions 
of  people.  Add  to  this  the  humiliating  admission  that  her  pop- 
ulation is  the  worst  educated  in  the  British  Isles,  and  we  have 
a  brief  summary  of  what  Ireland  owes  to  English  rule. 

What  is  the  remedy?  This  question  Michael  Davitt  thus 
answers:  ''There  is  no  hope  for  Ireland  under  such  govern- 
ment— absolutely  none — any  more  than  there  is  for  a  person 
into  whose  blood  an  insiduous  poison  has  been  infused  and  who 
is  denied  the  effective  remedy  which  would  counteract  the  dead- 
ly fluid.  We  must,  therefore,  demand  the  remedy  that  can 
alone  save  our  country  from  national  death.  Nationhood,  and 
that  only —  the  full,  free,  and  unfettered  right  of  our  people  to 
rule  and  govern  themselves  in  everything  concerning  the  do- 
mestic laws,  peace,  and  welfare  of  Ireland — is  what  we  must 
demand  and  work  for  henceforth,  if  England's  callous  selfish- 
ness is  not  to  be  allowed  to  carry  out  and  to  complete  the  ruin 
it  has  already  but  consummated." 

These  clarion  words  of  one  of  the  greatest,  noblest,  and 


JOHN  F.  O'CONNOR  149 

most  beloved  of  Ireland's  patriotic  sons,  it  is  needless  to  say, 
the  entire  Irish  race  enthusiastically  endorses  and  passionately 
applauds.  For  what  Irishman  or  son  of  an  Irishman  is  there 
whose  heart  does  not  bleed  when  he  reads  these  pathetic  words 
of  Lady  Wilde,  so  gTaphically  descriptive  of  the  present  tragic 
state  of  Ireland  ? 

''Ireland  rests,  'mid  the  rush  of  progression, 

Like  a  frozen  ship  in  a  frozen  sea. 
And  the  changeless  stillness  of  life's  stagnation 

Is  worse  than  the  wildest  waves  could  be 

Eending  the  rocks  eternally." 

''When  my  country  takes  her  place  among  the  nations  of 
the  earth,  then  and  not  until  then  let  my  epitaph  be  written!" 
were  the  dying  words  of  the  martyred  Eobert  Emmet.  Who  of 
Irish  blood  so  base  that  he  does  not  ardently  hope  and  fervent- 
ly pray  that  that  epitaph  shall  one  day  be  written? 

I  am  to  tell  you  tonight  a  story  of  man's  inhumanity  to  man 
so  appalling  that  it  seems  incredible.  For  I  am  to  tell  you  the 
frightful  story  of  Irish  tenant-slavery  and  of  Irish  landlord 
tyranny.  Negro  slavery  was  a  terrible  thing,  but  Irish  tenant 
slavery  was  a  still  more  terrible  thing.  Xo  tyranny  that  the 
world  has  ever  known  surpassed  in  savagery  the  tyranny  of  Ir- 
ish landlordism:  If  this  seems  to  anyone  the  language  of  exag- 
geration I  ask  him  to  suspend  judgment  until  he  hears  my 
story.  If  then  he  say  that  I  have  exaggerated,  I  will  not  only 
recall  my  words,  but  will  humbly  apologize  to  him  for  having 
transcended  the  langiiage  of  truth. 

What  is  the  explanation  of  this  Satanic  oppression,  through- 
out seven  long  centuries,  of  the  Irish  people?  Xo  fair-minded 
person  can  reach  any  other  conclusion  than  that  what  Mr. 
Froude  terms  a  mission  of  civilization  was  simple  a  colossal 
scheme  of  spoliation  and  land-piracy.  ''Eooting-out"  is  the 
quaint  and  suggestive  name  which  James  the  First's  Attorney- 
General  gives  it.  The  word  briefly  and  happily  expresses  the 
animus  of  British  rule  in  Ireland  for  seven  hundred  years. 

Xo  doubt  some  will  find  it  hard  to  believe  that  a  professed- 
ly Christian  nation  set  to  work  deliberately  and  systematically 
to  extirpate  the  people  of  another.  Xevertheless  it  is  the  liter- 
al, naked  truth.  How  to  secure  the  spoiler  and  exterminate  the 
rightful  occupant  of  the  soil  is  the  problem  to  which  English 
statesmen  have  bent  their  energies  from  the  time  of  Henry  11 
to  the  time  of  Edward  VII.  Tlie  "rooting-out"  process  has 
gone  pitilessly  on  for  centuries — at  one  time  hastened  by  fire, 


150  THE  FAMINE  TO  1870 

sword,  and  gibbet,  at  another  by  the  slower  tortnre  of  savage 
laws,  again  by  the  crushing  pressure  of  artificial  famine — but  an 
indestructible  seed  has  always  survived.  Fix  your  gaze  on  any 
intermediate  date  from  1172  to  1903:  you  may  note  differences 
in  the  machinery  employed,  but  the  functions  it  performs  are 
forever  the  same.  It  may  be  Henry  II  's  edicts  of  outlawry  and 
cantonments,  or  the  swords  of  bandit  barons,  or  Henry  VIII 's 
grim  statutes,  or  Elizabeth's  pacification  of  fire  and  steel,  or 
the  plantings  of  the  Stuarts,  or  Cromwell's  butcheries  and 
transportings,  or  the  hellish  malice  of  the  penal  code,  or  the 
Hessian  infamies  of  '98,  or  the  famines,  evictions,  and  coercion- 
acts  of  Victoria; — amid  them  all  there  is  one  constant  element: 
the  rooting-out  process  never  halts  or  slacks. 

Most  assuredly,  then,  the  British  government  has  had  one 
fixed  principle,  one  settled  policy,  in  its  treatment  of  Ireland; 
and  that  is — the  extermination  of  the  Irish  race.  And  never 
did  it  more  fiendishly  pursue  that  policy  than  during  the  last 
half  of  the  nineteenth  century,  as  the  steadily  dwindling  popu- 
lation of  Ireland  conclusively  proves.  The  population  of  Ire- 
land was  in  1841  about  8,200,000.  Today  it  is  only  4,375,000. 
It  should  be  at  least  16,000,000.  These  figures  tell  a  story  of  op- 
pression more  brutal  than  any  other  recorded  in  the  world 's  an- 
nals. 

Alluding  to  the  incontrovertible  fact  that  Ireland 's  popula- 
tion has  melted  away  at  the  rate  of  a  million  in  every  ten  years 
since  1847,  Lady  Wilde  cries  out: 

A  million  a  decade!    What  does  it  mean? 

A  nation  dying  of  inner  decay; 
A  churchyard's  silence  where  life  has  been; 

The  base  of  the  pyramid  crumbling  away; 
A  drift  of  men  gone  over  the  sea — 

A  drift  of  the  dead  where  men  should  be! 

Beholding  the  annual  mournful  exodus  of  the  evicted  Irish 
tenants,  the  London  Times,  in  May,  1858,  indignantly  ex- 
claimed: ''For  generations  the  proprietors  of  the  land  in  Ire- 
land have  been  Spartans  among  a  helot  peasantry — almost 
planters  among  negro  slaves." 

I  shall  treat  of  that  period  of  Irish  history  which  we  have 
now  reached  under  these  topics:  The  Famine,  the  Young  Ire- 
land Insurrection,  the  Great  Evictions  and  Depopulation,  Brit- 
ish Legislation,  the  Tenant  Right  League,  and  the  Fenian  In- 
surrection. 


JOHN  F.  O'CONNOR  151 

THE   FAMINE 

In  ancient  and  mediaval  times,  such  famines  as  those  which 
occurred  in  the  nineteenth  century  were  unknown  in  Ireland. 
Meat  and  fish,  corn  and  vegetables,  fruit  and  honey  supplied 
the  rich.  The  mass  of  the  people  lived  chiefly  on  porridge,  or 
stirabout,  a  wholesome  food  made  from  oatmeal,  and  usually 
eaten  with  milk.  The  partial  famines  which  arose  during  the 
Danish  wars  were  caused  by  the  Danes  themselves,  who  plun- 
dered and  spoiled  and  murdered,  destroying  the  people  as  well 
as  their  food ;  and  it  was  war  also  which  caused  the  famine  dur- 
ing the  invasion  of  Edward  Bruce. 

When  Munster  was  desolated  during  the  Desmond  war 
(1580-1583),  and  Ulster  laid  waste  by  Mountjoy  in  his  cam- 
]5aigns  against  Tyrone,  crops  were  intentionally  destroyed,  for 
in  each  case  the  invader  invoked  the  aid  of  hunger  to  subdue 
his  opponents.  In  a  similar  spirit,  the  Cromwellian  soldiers 
went  forth  with  scythes  and  Bible,  to  cut  down  ripening  Papist 
corn  lest  the  resistance  of  the  Papist  might  be  prolonged.  And 
the  famines  which  desolated  Ireland  periodically  from  1725  to 
17-40,  and  with  fearful  consequences  in  the  latter  year,  nearly  a 
fifth  of  the  population  being  swept  away,  naturally  resulted 
from  the  movement  to  consolidate  farms,  involving,  as  it  did, 
the  eviction  of  thousands  of  persons  from  their  homes. 

The  famine  of  1821-22  was  caused  by  floods,  which  over 
large  areas  destroyed  the  growing  crops.  The  partial  famines 
of  1831,  '35,  '36,  '37,  and  '42  were  caused  by  evictions  for  rent. 
In  not  one  of  all  these  famines,  did  the  calamity  arise  from  the 
sudden  and  unexpected  failure  of  a  crop  on  which  the  people 
mainly  relied,  and  which  had  been  sown  in  sufficient  quantity 
for  their  needs. 

In  1845,  the  landlords  were  still  as  grasping,  the  laws  as 
unjust,  the  Government  as  unsympathetic,  the  skies  as  change- 
able as  of  old.  But  in  that  year,  for  the  first  time  in  Ireland, 
the  potato  was  attacked  by  a  mysterious  disease,  which,  inde- 
pendently of  landlordism  or  law  or  cai^ricious  climate,  was  suf- 
ficient to  precipitate  a  national  calamity. 

Up  to  the  famine  of  1740,  oatmeal  continued  for  the  masses 
to  be  the  staple  article  of  diet.  But  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  at  the 
end  of  the  sixteenth  century,  had  introduced  the  potato  from 
Virginia.  It  did  not,  however,  become  at  once  popular.  It  was 
not  sown  extensively  throughout  the  seventeenth  century,  and 
even  in  the  first  quarter  of  the  eighteenth  century  corn  contin- 
ued to  supply  food  to  the  nation.  But  the  evictions  and  conse- 
quent famines  of  the  second  quarter  of  the  eighteenth  century 


15  2  THE  FAMINE  TO   1870 

• 

effected  a  change.  The  miserable  patches  of  land  on  which  so 
many  of  the  people  were  now  compelled  to  live,  if  planted  with 
corn,  could  not  produce  sufficient  food  for  a  family,  and  the 
scanty  and  ill-paid  labor  of  the  occupiers  would  not  enable  them 
effectually  to  supplement  their  food-supply. 

But  if  potatoes  were  sown  instead  of  com,  hunger  might  be 
kept  from  the  poor  man's  door.  Except  rice,  the  potato  is  the 
cheapest  food  for  sustaining  human  life.  The  ordinary  ])roduce 
of  an  Irish  acre  will  feed  a  family  of  eight  for  a  year,  while  at 
least  two  acres  planted  with  corn  would  be  required.  The  lat- 
ter, too,  was  subject  to  tithes,  but  the  potato  was  not.  Under 
these  influences,  it  grew  in  favor,  until  in  1750  potato-culture 
had  so  completely  supplanted  corn,  that  for  nine  months  of  the 
year  potatoes  and  milk  were  everywhere  the  food  of  the  y>ooy. 
The  multiplication  of  J:Os.  freeholds,  following  the  Catholic  Re- 
lief Act  of  1793,  added  enormously  to  the  number  of  very  small 
tenants,  and  in  consequence  enormously  increased  the  number 
of  those  dependent  on  the  potato;  and  when  in  1845,  their  one 
resource  failed,  millions  were  face  to  face  with  hunger. 

The  blight,  as  it  came  to  be  called,  first  showed  itself  in 
Germany,  then  in  Belgium,  in  1842;  after  which  it  appeared  in 
Canada  in  1844,  and  in  the  next  year  in  Great  Britain  and  Ire- 
land. In'  the  latter  country,  it  was  first  seen  about  the  middle 
of  September  in  Wexford.  Thence  it  marched  with  invisible 
tread  all  over  the  land,  poisoning  the  peasant's  potato  fields 
with  the  fatal  breath  of  the  simoon.  The  stalks,  till  then  green 
and  healthy  and  loaded  with  blossoms,  crumpled  and  withered 
beneath  its  touch ;  the  leaves  looked  as  if  acid  had  been  sprink- 
led upon  them;  the  burned  spots  grew  larger  until  leaves  and 
stalks  were  decayed;  and  the  fields,  lately  vigorous  with  vege- 
table life,  became  a  putrid  mass  of  vegetable  matter.  When 
the  potatoes  were  dug  up,  it  was  found  that  the  fatal  disease 
had  penetrated  beneath  the  soil  and  that  a  large  part  of  the 
crop  was  rotten.  AVorse  than  all,  when  the  sound  potatoes, 
having  been  separated  from  the  unsound  ones,  were  deposited 
in  the  pits  and  the  pits  after  a  time  opened,  it  was  seen  that 
the  blight  had  entered,  and  laying  its  awful  hand  on  the  sound 
potatoes,  had  rendered  them  unfit  for  human  food.  The  ])eas- 
ant,  with  blanched  face,  saw  his  food  thus  disappear,  and  as  he 
looked  at  his  children,  shivering  with  fear  at  what  they  saw, 
and  as  he  thought  of  the  many  months  before  him  during  which 
the  potato  was  his  and  their  only  resource,  he  was  filled  with 
terror  and  dismay. 

The  extent  of  the  damage  varied  according  to  the  district. 
In  some  districts   the  potatoes   were  all  but   com])letely  de- 


JOHN  F.  O'CONNOR  153 

stroyed,  in  others  but  little  affected;  but  taking  the  country  as 
a  whole,  it  was  calculated  that  at  least  one-half  of  the  crop  was 
ruined,  a  loss  which  equalled  $-15,000,000. 

By  1846,  the  threatened  famine  in  Ireland  had  become  an 
awful  reality.  In  Clare,  many  people  were  starving;  near  Lim- 
erick, not  even  a  rotton  potato  was  left;  in  Kilkenny,  three- 
fourths  of  the  inhabitants  had  not  three  days'  provisions;  and 
^11  this  as  early  as  April.  In  May,  there  was  not  a  potato  with- 
in twenty  miles  of  Clonmel;  provisions  had  reached  famine 
prices;  and  in  Galway,  potatoes  were  selling  at  six-pence  a 
stone,  and  even  half  of  those  sold  were  unfit  for  food.  By  the 
month  of  June,  51,000  were  in  the  workhouses;  and  before  that 
<iate,  there  had  been  deaths  from  starvation  in  Limerick  and 
in  Newry. 

Far  worse  than  this  followed.  During  the  spring,  the  j'soor 
people  had  made  heroic  efforts  to  obtain  seed  potatoes.  They 
pinched  and  saved  and  stinted  themselves;  they  sold  their  corn 
and  stock,  and  even  their  bedclothes;  and  often  the  dress  which 
on  Sunday  had  excited  the  admiration  of  her  friends  and  the 
■«nvy  of  her  female  rivals,  was  deposited  at  the  ])awn-sho]:>  by 
the  rustic  beauty,  with  quivering  lips  and  tearful  eyes.  The 
seed  obtained  with  such  difficulty  and  with  such  sacrifice  was 
'duly  sown,  and  up  to  the  end  of  July  all  promised  well.  But 
again  the  blight  fell,  and  tlie  potato  crop  all  over  the  land  be- 
came its  victims.  Not  half  the  crop,  as  in  1815,  but  the  whole 
crop  was  thus  suddenly  blotted  out  of  existence.  Gazing  at  his 
rotting  potato  fields,  the  afflicted  peasant  bowed  his  head  in  an- 
guish and  looked  to  the  future  without  hope.  It  would  be  a 
low  estimate  to  put  the  loss  at  $100,000,000,  and  it  has  been  put 
at  twice  that  amount — a  calamity  to  which  even  the  chequered 
history  of  Ireland  was  unable  to  furnish  a  parallel. 

Women  and  children,  half-naked  and  perishing  with  cold, 
swarmed  over  the  turnip  fields,  devouring  the  turnips  raw, 
while  the  little  children  looked  on  screaming  with  hunger. 
Starving  and  menacing  crowds  paraded  the  streets  demanding 
work  and  food;  deaths  from  starvation  began  and  continued; 
the  clergy  and  dispensary  doctors  were  worn  out  attending  the 
sick  and  dying;  coroners'  inquests  became  frequent  with  "died 
from  starvation"  as  their  verdicts;  and  Mitchel  calculates  that 
in  1816  "not  less  than  300,000  perished  either  of  mere  hunger 
or  of  typhus  fever  caused  l)y  hunger. ' ' 

The  year  of  1816  thus  closed  in  darkness  and  gloom,  but  in 
the  new  vear  the  a'loom  deepened  and  the  horrors  were  greater 
still. 

The  famine  still  marched  in  triumph  over  the  land,  and  ev- 


154  THE  FAMINE  TO   1S70 

ery  clay  fresh  victims  were  offered  up  to  satisfy  its  insatiable 
demands.  Peo]>le  died  in  the  cities  and  in  the  towns,  even  in 
Dublin  and  Belfast  and  Cork  and  Limerick,  as  well  as  in  the 
country  districts;  they  died  in  the  fiekls,  they  died  at  the  pub- 
lic works  and  on  the  way  to  the  Government  depots  for  food; 
they  died  at  the  workhouse  door  vainly  seeking  for  admission; 
they  died  in  the  workhouses  themselves,  where  fever  and  dysen- 
tery, following-  on  famine,  did  what  famine  was  unable  to  do. 
In  (Jork  Workhouse,  forty-five  died  in  a  single  day;  in  the  South 
Dublin  Union,  700  were  down  with  dysentery;  in  Westport 
Union,  of  thirty-three  annointed  in  one  day  by  the  priest,  only 
three  were  living  on  the  following  day. 

Weakened  with  hunger  or  sick  with  fever  or  dysentery, 
they  lay  down  in  their  cabins,  without  a  bed  to  lie  on,  without 
food  or  fire,  often  without  clothes.  In  one  house,  seventeen 
persons  were  found  lying  together  in  fever.  A  young  man  was 
found  lying  in  fever  by  the  side  of  his  brother,  dead  for  three 
days,  and  of  his  sister,  dead  for  five  days.  A  mother  putting 
her  five  children  to  bed  at  night  found  some  of  them  dead  with 
hunger  in  the  morning;  and  often,  when  all  but  one  of  a  family 
had  died,  the  survivor  barred  up  the  doors  and  windows  of  his 
little  cabin  to  kee]3  out  the  dogs  and  pigs,  and  then  lay  down 
dying  amidst  the  dead.  Car-drivers  passing  along  saw  corpses 
on  the  road  and  often  drove  over  corpses  at  night.  A  father 
and  son  dying  of  hunger,  the  survivors  of  the  family,  unable 
to  buy  a  candle,  kept  up  a  light  during  the  night  by  pulling  tlie 
thatch  off'  the  house  and  setting  it  on  fire.  Funerals  ceased  to 
be  attended.  The  afflicted  father  brought  the  dead  bodies  of 
his  children  to  the  graveyard  alone;  corpses  were  often  tied  up 
in  straw  and  thus  buried,  or  were  not  buried  at  all  and  were 
eaten  by  rats  and  dogs;  coffins  became  a  luxury,  and  in  Skib- 
bereen  and  elsewhere  hinged  coffins  were  used,  one  body  after 
another  being  brought  to  the  grave  in  the  same  coffin.  Coron- 
ers were  unequal  to  the  task  of  holding  so  many  inquests,  and 
often  when  inquests  were  held,  the  jury,  enraged  at  what  they 
saw,  brought  in  a  verdict  of  wilful  murder  against  Lord  John 
Eussell,  the  then  prime  minister  of  England. 

Thousands  of  others  died  in  their  homes  or  on  the  roads 
and  not  only  of  fever  but  also  of  dysentery,  dropsy  and  small- 
pox; and  Mitchel's  estimate  is  that  in  1847  half  a  million  died 
of  famine  and  disease. 

To  foreign  countries  and  the  Colonies  there  had  been  from 
1831  to  1841  a  continuous  stream  of  emigration,  a  yearly  aver- 
age of  43,000;  the  numbers  increased  in  the  years  that  followed, 
until,  in  1846,  106,000  left  Ireland  for  foreign  countries,  besides. 


JOHN  F.  O'CONNOR  155 

278,000  landed  at  Liverpool.  But  in  1847,  all  previous  records 
were  beaten.  The  crowds  whom  eviction  and  the  Poor  Law  had 
made  homeless,  being  unable  to  pay  the  passage  across  the  At- 
lantic, crossed  to  England,  All  were  poor,  some  nnable  to  work, 
many  already  in  fever;  and  while  the  English  workmen  dis- 
liked to  have  the  English  labor  market  thus  flooded  by  Irish 
exiles,  the  English  ratepayers  disliked  having  so  many  thrown 
on  the  rates  and  so  many  in  the  hospitals  and  elsewhere  to 
spread  disease.  The  Government  took  alarm,  and  an  Order  in 
Council  was  issued  imposing  stringent  quarantine  regulations; 
shipping  companies  were  also  induced  to  raise  the  rates  for 
deck  passages ;*and  these  measures  all  but  closed  Great  Britain 
to  Irish  emigrants. 

Scraping  together  the  little  money  they  could  gather,  or 
helped  by  the  landlords,  who  were  delighted  to  get  rid  of  them, 
thousands  then  turned  their  faces  to  the  setting  sun,  and  everj^ 
vessel  which  left  Ireland  for  Canada  and.  the  United  States  was 
filled  with  Irish,  fleeing  from  famine  and  disease.  Once  em- 
barked fresh  horrors  were  in  store  for  them.  The  vessels  were 
crowded,  the  ventilation  defective,  the  food  scant  and  un- 
healthy, the  water  impure,  medical  attendance  wanting;  and 
soon,  generated  by  unsanitary  conditions  or  perhaps  carried  on 
board  by  some  passenger,  fever  broke  out,  and  the  ships  be- 
came so  many  charnel-houses.  Of  493  who  sailed  on  the  Erin 
Queen,  136  died  on  the  voyage;  on  the  Avon,  246  out  of  552;  on 
the  Virginia,  267  out  of  476;  and  on  another  vessel  not  named, 
out  of  600  only  100  survived.  And  when  the  survivors  landed 
on  American  soil  they  landed  only  to  die.  Along  the  banks  of 
the  St.  Lawrence  were  to  be  found  "one  unbroken  chain  of 
graves  where  repose  father  and  mother,  sisters  and  brothers^ 
in  a  commingled  heap,  no  stone  marking  the  spot." 

In  1848,  there  was  only  a  partial  failure  of  the  potato  crop. 
But  for  many  this  availed  little.  Thousands,  being  barred 
from  relief  if  they  held  more  than  a  rood  of  land,  voluntarily 
surrendered  their  farms.  Many  thousands  more  were  ruthlessly 
evicted  by  their  landlords.  Such  was  the  etfect  of  these  co- 
operating causes,  that  within  one  year  70,000  occupiers  with 
their  families,  that  is  500,000  persons,  were  rooted  out  of  the 
land.  What  the  landlords  wished  was  to  consolidate  farms,  and 
while  the  number  of  holdings  under  thirty  acres  were  thus  di- 
minished, thosei  over  thirty  acres  were  increased.  These  land- 
less and  hopeless  men,  seeking  admission  to  the  workhouses, 
found  them  full.  Wandering  aimlessly  about,  they  were  im- 
prisoned under  the  Vagrancy  Act.-  Stricken  with  fever,  they 
found  the  fever  hospitals  choked  with  patients  to  such  an  ex- 


156  THE   FAMINE  TO   1870 

tent  that  in  1847  alone  156,000  patients  were  admitted  to  the 
fever  hospitals. 

In  the  midst  of  sncli  horrors,  the  living  began  to  envy  the 
dead,  for  the  dead  had  ceased  to  suffer  while  the  living  had 
their  sufferings  still  to  go  through.  Many  lived  on  cabbage  and 
a  little  meal;  others  on  cabbage  and  seaweed;  in  Mayo  men 
lived  on  turnips,  and  some  on  ass  and  horse  flesh,  even  when 
diseased ;  others  on  grass  and  turf,  and  in  one  case  a  woman  ate 
her  dead  child.  Men  worked  on  the  roads  without  shoes,  wo- 
men were  almost  naked,  children  with  nothing  to  cover  them 
but  an  old  shirt  and  ragged  waistcoat;  and  this  while  the  blasts 
of  winter  blew.  On  his  journey  to  Donegal,  Mr.  Foster  noted 
that  pigs  and  poultry  had  disappeared;  the  dogs  had  been 
killed;  the  people  had  a  sickly  livid  color;  the  children  had 
ceased  to  play,  and  reduced  to  skeletons  by  hunger,  they  had 
lost  the  freshness  of  youth,  and  were  like  weazened  old  men. 

Some  of  the  resident  landlords  were  doing  their  best  to  re- 
lieve suffering,  but  the  absentees,  with  a  callousness  which  it 
would  be  luird  to  equal  and  impossible  to  surpass,  remained 
unmoved,  and  to  the  relief  funds  not  one  penny  did  they  sub- 
scribe. The  law  allowed  them — and  shame  for  Parliament  that 
it  did — to  seize  for  rent;  and  in  the  midst  of  hunger  and  horror, 
bailiff's  and  agents  supported  by  police,  laid  hands  on  every- 
thing. They  seized  the  people's  sheep  and  cattle  and  oats,  or 
their  scanty  furniture,  or  the  potatoes  grown  from  seed  given 
in  charity.  They  turned  the  people  out-of-doors,  levelled  their 
cabins  or  set  them  on  fire,  and  sent  their  starving  tenants  adrift 
without  money  or  clothes,  with  the  result  that  in  the  Barony  of 
Erris  6,000  died  of  famine  in  a  single  year.  ''I  have  visited," 
said  Mr.  Tuke,  "the  wasted  remains  of  the  once  noble  Red  Man 
on  his  reservation  grounds  in  North  America,  and  explored  the 
'Negro  Quarter'  of  the  degraded  and  enslaved  Africans,  but 
never  have  I  seen  misery  so  intense,  or  physical  degradation  so 
complete  as  among  the  dwellers  in  the  bog  holes  of  Erris." 

In  1848  occurred  the  Young  Ireland  Insurrection,  but  as  1 
intend  to  speak  of  this  event  more  fully  hereafter,  I  shall  only 
state  here  that  it  tragically  failed,  and  that,  as  a  result  of  it,  all 
the  prominent  nationalist  leaders  were  either  in  prison  or  in 
exile. 

In  1849,  the  sufferings  of  Ireland  were  greater  than  in  any 
previous  year  except  1847.  Within  twelve  months  the  landlords 
dispossessed  half  a  million  of  persons,  and  with  such  heartless- 
ness  and  cruelty  that  except  England,  the  whole  world  was  hor- 
rified. Fever  added  its  victims;  in  this  year  cholera  first  ap- 
peared, killing  36,000.    The  total  deaths  "from  famine  and  dis- 


JOHN  F.  O'CONNOR  15T 

ease  in  tliis  year  reached  240,000.  During  all  this  time,  the  tide 
of  emigration  continued  to  flow.  In  1847,  215,000  emigrated 
and  almost  the  same  number  in  1818,  '19,  and  '50.  In  1851,, 
when  the  famine  was  over,  257,000  left  Ireland.  In  the  latter 
year,  the  population  was  brought  down  from  8,200,000  in  1811 
to  6,500,000.  According  to  official  estimate,  it  should  have  been 
9,000,000.  Ireland  had  lost  in  ten  years  2,500,000!  A  million 
had  emigrated!  A  million  and  a  half  had  perished  from  famine 
and  fever!  And  O'Connell's  prediction  that  a  fourth  of  the 
population  would  be  lost  was  fulfilled! 

Said  John  IMitchel :  ' '  Now,  that  million  and  a  half  of  men, 
women,  and  children  were  carefully,  prudently,  and  peacefully 
slain  by  the  English  government.  They  died  of  hunger  in  the 
midst  of  abundance  which  their  own  hands  created.  In  1817 
alone,  food  to  the  value  of  $216,790,000  was  grown  in  Ireland^ 
according  to  the  statistical  returns  for  that  year.  For  it  was 
only  the  potato  crop  that  had  failed.  It  is  on  record  that  some 
of  the  food  laden  ships,  speeding  on  their  voyage  of  mercy  to 
the  Irish  shores  passed  on  their  way  other  ships  laden  with 
Irish  produce  from  the  same  shores  to  England,  with  the  ex- 
ported fruits  of  Irish  toil  and  land,  to  be  turned  into  rent  for 
the  Irish  landlords  in  the  English  market." 

Says  Michael  Davitt:  "There  is  probably  no  chapter  in 
the  wide  records  of  human  suffering  and  wrong  so  full  of  shame 
— measureless,  unadulterated  shame — as  that  which  tells  us  of 
a  million  and  a  half  of  people,  lying  down  to  die  in  a  land  out 
of  which  forty-five  millions'  worth  of  food  was  being  ex]iorted 
in  one  year  alone  for  rent,  the  product  of  their  own  toil,  and 
making  no  effort,  combined  or  otherwise,  to  assert  even  the 
animal's  right  of  existence,  the  right  to  live  by  the  necessities 
of  its  nature.  It  stands  unparalleled  in  human  history,  with 
nothing  approaching  to  it  in  the  complete  surrender  of  all  the 
ordinary  attributes  of  manhood  by  almost  a  whole  nation  in  the 
face  of  an  artificial  famine. ' ' 

Said  Archbishop  Hughes:  "I  fear  there  is  blasphemy  in 
charging  on  the  Almighty  the  result  of  human  doings.  The 
famine  in  Ireland,  like  the  cholera  in  India,  has  been  for  many 
years  indigenous.  But  in  the  present  instance  it  has  attracted 
the  attention  of  the  world,  and  they  call  it  God's  famine.  Yet 
the  soil  has  produced  its  usual  tribute  for  the  support  of  those 
for  whom  it  was  cultivated.  But  political  economy,  finding  Ire- 
land too  poor  to  buy  the  product  of  its  own  labor,  exported 
that  harvest  to  a  'better  market,'  and  let  the  people  die  of 
famine  or  live  by  alms. 

"Still  the  rights  of  life  are  dearer  and  higher  than  the 


158  THE   FAMINE  TO   1870 

rights  of  property.  There  is  no  law  of  Heaven,  no  law  of  na- 
ture, that  forbids  a  starving  man  to  seize  on  bread  wherever 
he  can  find  it  even  though  it  should  be  the  loaves  of  propiti- 
ation on  the  altar  of  God's  temple.  But  I  say  to  those  who 
maintain  'the  inviolable  rights  of  property,'  if  they  would  have 
them  respected,  to  be  careful  also  and  scrupulous  in  recogniz- 
ing the  rights  of  humanity.  Let  us  be  careful,  then,  not  to  blas- 
j)heme  Providence  by  calling  this  God's  famine!" 

Said  Isaac  Butt:  ''Let  any  man  tell  me  the  difference  be- 
tween an  expulsion  of  the  whole  population  of  the  highland  re- 
gions of  Glenveigh  by  a  squadron  of  Cromwell's  troopers  in 
1650  and  an  expulsion  of  its  population  in  1850  by  the  man  who 
has  inherited  or  purchased  Cromwell's  patent.  The  very  'pomp 
and  circumstance'  are  the  same.  Military  force  ejects  the  peo- 
IDle  now  as  it  would  have  done  then.  The  bayonets  of  the  sol- 
diery drive  now  as  they  did  then  the  old  population  from  their 
homes.  Cruel  men  come  now  as  they  would  have  done  then, 
and,  ami-d  the  wailing  of  women  and  the  cries  of  children,  level 
the  humble  habitations  that  have  given  shelter  to  the  simple 
dwellers  in  that  glen.  What,  I  ask,  is  the  difference?  By  what 
mockery  of  all  justice  and  truth  can  we  call  the  one  the  act  of 
inhuman  conquest,  the  other  the  legitimate  exercise  of  the  sa- 
cred rights  of  property  with  which  no  one  is  to  interfere  F  Where 
is  the  difference  to  the  evicted  family?  Where  is  the  difference 
to  the  mother  that  leads  away  her  starving  children  from  the 
home  where  her  toil  had  found  them  bread?  What  is  a  'clear- 
ance' such  as  this  but  the  extermination  of  military  conquest 
l^ut  in  force  under  the  forms  of  law?  Let  us  consider  the  effect 
of  the  evictions  upon  the  evicted  peoj^le.  To  what  were  they  to 
turn?  The  sentence  that  drives  them  from  the  land,  to  what 
doom  does  it  consign  them?  It  is  the  deprivation  of  the  means 
of  life.    To  them,  it  is  the  sentence  of  death ! 

"Enough  to  say  that  if  in  those  twenty  years  all  the  hor- 
rors of  a  real  and  actual  war  of  conquest — all  the  worst  horrors 
of  a  civil  war  and  insurrection — had  swept  over  Ireland,  fewer 
hearths  had  been  desolated  and  fewer  families  been  brought  to 
beggary  and  to  ruin.  An  actual  war  would  have  brought  with 
it  its  compensations.  Deeds  of  daring  would  have  left  some 
memories  to  become  traditions  of  the  historic  past.  Deeds  of 
generosity  and  charity  would  have  tempered  even  the  atroci- 
ties of  fierce  passion.  Heroism  and  self-devotion  would  have 
redeemed  the  crimes  and  the  bloodshed  of  the  battle-field.  Dis- 
ci]3line  and  self-denial  would  have  purified  and  elevated  the 
character  of  a  nation.  Ireland  has  endured  all  that  constitutes 
the  agony  of  the  conflict  and  more,  far  more,  than  the  degrada- 


JOHN  F.  O'CONNOR  159 

tion  and  misery  of  defeat.  These  are  the  things  which  ahnost 
jnstify  the  reasoning-  of  those  who  argne  that  it  were  ])etter  for 
the  peasantry  of  Ireland  to  risk  all  in  one  wild  and  mad  insur- 
rection than  wait  to  be  wasted  away  by  the  slow  combustion  of 
suppressed  civil  war;  that  all  the  misery  which  even  an  unsuc- 
cessful revolt  could  bring  upon  them  were  better  and  lighter 
than  these  which  a  tame  submission  to  the  present  svstem  en- 
tails." 

Says  Clancy:  ^'It  is  a  matter  of  conspicuous  record  that 
Ireland  lost  more  lives  through  the  single  agency  of  famine  in 
1846,  '47,  and  '48,  than  America  lost  in  the  most  desperate  civil 
war  of  history;  or  that  Europe  lost  during  all  the  wars  of  Na- 
poleon ;  but  very  few  persons  are  aware  that  such  visitations  in 
Ireland  are  not  merely  occasional,  nor  even  periodic,  but  liter- 
ally constant  in  greater  or  less  degree,  so  that  the  people  stand 
perennially  on  the  verge  of  starvation.  In  1832,  Bishop  Doyle, 
being  asked  what  was  the  condition  of  the  west  of  Ireland,  re- 
plied: '' People  are  starving  there  as  usual."  In  1835  a  royal 
commission  estimated  at  three  millions  the  number  annually 
liable  to  suffer  in  Ireland  from  sheer  hunger.  Of  every  subse- 
quent year,  down  to  the  present,  substantially  similar  testimony 
has  been  given  by  unimpeachable  witnesses. 

English  politicians  and  publicists  have  elaborated  two  in- 
genious theories  to  account  for  this  unnatural  condition.  One 
party  holds  that  it  is  due  to  ''surplus  population,"  while  the 
other  shifts  the  blame  to  "a  special  visitation  of  Providence." 
The  latter  explanation  is  blasphemous,  as  both  are  false.  Sir 
Eobert  Kane  has  proven,  beyond  all  chance  of  doubt  or  cavil, 
that  the  natural  resources  of  the  island  are  easily  capable  of 
supporting  twenty  million  human  beings  in  comfort.  Other 
competent  judges,  including  De  Beaumont  and  Alison,  place 
the  figure  far  higher.  Hence  the  theory  of  "surplus  popula- 
tion" is  mere  cant  and  rubbish. 

In  the  next  place,  when  English  writers  have  the  audacity 
to  affirm  that  the  famine  of  1847  (or  of  any  other  year)  was 
''providential,"  they  try  to  make  the  Almighty  a  scajDegoat  for 
what  was  positively  and  directly  the  crime  of  England.  In  ev- 
ery other  country,  Perraud  well  observes,  the  word  "famine" 
means  absolute  want  of  the  necessaries  of  life;  but  in  Ireland 
it  signifies  that  when  the  cultivator  has  sold  his  corn  and  cattle 
to  pay  rents  and  taxes,  then,  should  the  potato-crop  fail,  he 
finds  himself  suddenly  reduced  to  a  fare  of  wild  herbs  and 
grass,  which  do  not  long  ward  oif  the  famine  fever.  In  other 
lands  self-preservation  is  the  first  law  of  nature.  In  Ireland 
there  is  a  special  law:     First,  and  above  all  things,  pay  your 


160  THE  FAMINE   TO   1870 

rent,  your  cess,  your  rates,  your  taxes;  if  anything  remain,  live 
on't;  if  nothing  remain,  lie  down  and  rot! 

Thus  it  was  that  with  a  teeming  abundance  of  food  around 
them — product  of  Nature's  bounty  and  their  own  sweat — whole 
armies  of  the  Irish  race  perished  of  starvation  in  the  ''glorious 
reign"  of  Victoria.  How  many  more  hundred  thousands  would 
have  perished,  but  for  the  generous  charity  of  other  lands,  it 
is  impossible  to  conjecture.  The  people  of  America,  of  France, 
the  Pope,  the  Czar,  the  Sultan,  the  distant  "despots"  of  Asia 
and  Africa,  the  very  negro  slaves — all  combined  to  do  for  Ire- 
land what  her  ''constitutional"  rulers  refused  to  do,  namely,  to 
keep  her  people  alive. 

"YOUNG  lEELAND" 

O'Connell  founded  the  Repeal  Association  in  1840.  But 
for  a  long  time  the  Association  made  no  progress.  O'Connell 
spoke  as  a  great  orator  and  a  great  Irishman,  but  he  spoke  to  a 
nation  that  would  not  heed  and  that  was  reluctant  even  to  lis- 
ten. On  every  side  there  was  doubt,  hesitation,  apathy,  and  in- 
difference. Yet  this  wonderful  old  man  of  sixty-six  did  not  de- 
spair in  the  midst  of  so  much  depression  and  gloom.  Patiently, 
perseveringly,  and  with  grim  tenacity,  he  continued  his  efforts. 

At  last  his  patience  was  rewarded.  In  the  autumn  of  1842 
three  remarkable  young  men  joined  the  Repeal  Association  and 
often  attended  its  sparsely-attended  meetings.  These  were 
Thomas  Osborne  Davis,  John  Blake  Dillon  and  Charles  Gavan 
Duffy.  Davis  and  Dillon  were  barristers,  but  with  little  prac- 
tice. Duffy  had  been  assistant  editor  of  a  Dublin  paper,  and 
still  later  editor  of  a  paper  in  Belfast.  Davis  was  the  oldest,  and 
was  but  twenty-eight  years  of  iage,  having  been  born  in  Mallow; 
Dillon  was  from  Connaught;  Duffy  was  an  Ulsterman.  The  two 
latter  were  Catholics;  Davis  was  a  Protestant,  and  in  intellect- 
ual power,  in  force  of  character,  in  capacity,  for  leadership,  he 
was  the  ablest  of  the  three.  He  was  a  poet,  a  philosopher,  an 
historian,  a  man  who  read  much  and  thought  much,  tolerant, 
kindly,  forbearing,  with  broad  human  sympathies  and  a  pas- 
sionate love  for  Ireland.  Duffy  had  much  of  the  practical  good 
sense  of  his  native  Ulster — fine  natural  talents  and  a  consider- 
able power  of  literary  expression.  In  this  latter  respect  Dillon, 
was  his  inferior,  though  his  intellect  was  of  a  very  high  order. 
His  motives  were  of  the  purest,  his  nature  without  guile,  his 
ambition  only  to  serve  Ireland.  The  sufferings  of  his  poorer 
countryment  went  to  his  heart,  and  he  longed  to  strike  down 
the  power  which  oppressed  them.    No  more  lovable  character, 


JOHN  F.  O'CONNOR  161 

none  more  resi^ectecl,  none  more  miselfisli  or  courageous  ap- 
l^eared  in  the  public  life  of  his  time  than  John  Dillon. 

All  three — Davis  especially — had  profound  admiration  for 
O'Connell.  But  they  disapproved  of  some  of  his  methods  and 
some  of  his  policy.  Equally  distrustful  of  both  English,  par- 
ties, these  young  men  favored  more  toleration  in  Ireland,  so 
that  by  conciliation  and  forbearance  all  Irishmen  might  act 
together  in  demanding  their  rights  from  England,  and  not  in 
the  whining  language  of  a  beggar  but  in  the  manlier  accents  of 
the  freeman.  They  wanted  Irishmen  to  cultivate  self-respect 
and  self-reliance,  to  take  a  pride  in  their  past,  to  recall  the  far 
distant  times  T^ien  Ireland  was  the  School  of  the  Yv  est,  to  learn 
the  lesson  that  by  disunion  they  had  lost  and  by  union  every- 
thing could  be  won. 

To  give  utterance  to  these  thoughts  a  newspaper  was  nec- 
essary, and  in  the  summer  of  184-2  Davis,  Dillon  and  Duffy,  un- 
der the  shelter  of  an  elm  tree  in  the  Phoenix  Park,  determined 
to  found  a  newspaper.  Duft'y  was  named  its  editor,  and  the 
first  number  of  the  Nation  was  published  in  October,  18-12.  Its 
motto  was  'Ho  create  and  foster  public  opinion  in  Ireland  and 
make  it  racy  of  the  soil."  Its  vigor  and  freshness  of  style,  its 
thoughtfulness,  its  manly  tone,  were  new  in  Irish  journalism. 
From  its  pages  thousands  of  Irishmen  learned  for  the  first  time 
of  Colnmbkille  and  Columbanus,  of  Duns  Scotus  and  Erigena, 
of  Bangor  and  Lismore.  They  were  able  to  follow  in  the  foot- 
steps of  the  Wild  Geese,  to  see  Sarsfield  fall  at  Landen,  Mahony 
hold  Cremona,  and  Lally  charge  at  Fontenoy;  or  again  to  sit 
with  Colgan  in  his  study  at  Louvain.  They  learned  something 
of  Irish  music,  of  Irish  eloquence,  of  Irish  valor;  they  learned 
to  interpret  the  rath  and  dun,  the  broken  arch  and  the  ivy-clad 
ruin.  And  learning  so  much,  they  lifted  up  their  heads  and 
were  proud  of  the  land  in  which  they  were  born. 

To  the  young  men  especially  the  new  ]iaper  appealed,  and 
in  the  University,  in  Maynooth,  in  the  colleges  and  schools,  it 
was  welcomed  with  enthusiasm.  In  the  country  towns,  in  the 
farmers'  homes  it  was  read;  and  by  the  light  of  the  village 
forge  the  smith  paused  from  his  anvil,  and  the  villagers  gath- 
ered round,  while  some  one  read  out  from  the  columns  of  the 
newly-arrived  Nation  its  tales,  its  historical  sketches,  its  stir- 
ring appeals.  The  Times  and  Quarterly  Review  recognized  its 
literary  ability.  Irish  exiles  abroad  sent  their  congratulations, 
foreign  newspapers  bade  it  welcome,  and  its  articles  were  cop- 
ied into  American  newspapers  all  over  the  United  States.  Un- 
der its  influence  the  Re]:>eal  Association  grew  rapidly,  its  meet- 
ings full,  its  weekly  rent  coming  in  by  hundreds  of  pounds,  and 


162  THE   FAMINE  TO   1870 

thus  did  a  newspaper  succeed  where  even  the  great  agitator  so 
far  had  failed. 

To  the  young  generation  of  political  thinkers  who  sympa- 
thized with  the  doctrine  of  the  Nation,  the  name  ''Young  Ire- 
land" was  given.  ''At  the  head  of  this  party,"  says  Savage, 
"blazed  a  galaxy  of  genius — poets,  orators,  scholars,  writers, 
and  organizers."  The  sun  and  center  of  the  galaxy,  for  too 
brief  a  day,  was  Thomas  Davis.  Around  him  circled  a  brilliant 
constellation  of  young,  ardent,  gifted,  and  patriotic  Irishmen. 
With  the  aid  of  "The  Nation"  and  the  Yoimg  Irelanders,  0'- 
Connell  aroused  and  united  Ireland  as  she  had  never  been 
aroused  and  united  before.  In  proof  of  the  truth  of  this  state- 
ment, I  need  only  mention  the  monster  gatherings  of  Tara  and 
Clontarf.  But  unfortunately  this  union  was  not  destined  to 
last.  To  the  horror  of  the  famine,  another  terrible  woe  was 
added,  that  of  factional  strife. 

TIIF.  YOUNG  lEELAND   INSUREECTION 

To  still  further  dishearten  the  afflicted  people,  the  popular 
leaders  were  at  war.  At  the  death  of  Davis  in  1845,  the  nominal 
leader  of  the  Young  Irelanders  was  Smith  O'Brien,  but  the  real 
leader  had  since  become  John  Mitchel.  He  was  a  solicitor,  and 
an  Ulster  Presbyterian,  and  like  Wolfe  Tone  seems  to  have  al- 
ways hated  England.  He  had  considerable  literary  capacity, 
took  Carlyle  as  his  model  and  imitated  him  with  success,  and 
was  as  bold,  as  blunt,  and  as  outspoken  as  his  master.  He  had 
little  sympathy  with  O'Connell's  peaceful  agitation,  and  none 
at  all  with  his  constant  preaching  of  the  doctrine  that  in  no 
case  should  there  be  spilling  of  blood;  and  he  regarded  the  re- 
newed alliance  of  0  'Connell  and  Lord  John  Eussell  with  undis- 
guised hatred  and  contempt.  Absolutely  fearless,  he  would 
have  held  the  meeting  at  Clontarf  in  defiance  of  Government, 
would  have  broken  down  the  bridges  behind  the  troops  as  they 
left  the  city,  and  captured  the  city  itself;  and  when  the  ])eople 
were  dj'ing  of  famine  in  1846,  he  would  have  seized  the  peo- 
ple's corn,  which,  to  pay  the  landlord's  rent,  was  borne  from 
the  Irish  shores  on  every  outward-flowing  tide. 

By  0  'Connell  these  views  were  abhored.  He  wished  to  re- 
main on  good  terms  with  Lord  John  Eussell,  wished  the  Eepeal 
Association  to  be  in  everything  loyal  and  peaceful,  and  in  July, 
1846,  he  proposed  a  series  of  resolutions  pledging  the  members 
against  physical  force  not  only  in  the  present  but  for  the  fu- 
ture, no  matter  what  contingency  might  arise.  He  was  answer- 
ed in  a  speech  of  extraordinary  eloquence  by  a  young  recruit 


JOHN  F.  O'CONNOR  ,163 

to  the  Young  Ireland  Party,  Thomas  Francis  Meagher,  and  as 
neither  side  would  give  way,  and  there  was  no  one  like  Davis 
strong  enough  to  make  peace,  the  Young  Irelanders,  headed  by 
Smith  O'Brien,  left  Conciliation  Hall  and  set  up  the  Irish  Con- 
federation. Henceforth,  says  Mitchel,  the  Repeal  Association 
was  of  no  use  except  to  obtain  offices  for  the  friends  of  O'Con- 
nelL 

Meanwhile,  repelled  from  the  workhouses,  debarred  from 
crossing  to  England,  unable  to  reach  America,  made  vagrants 
by  evictions  and  punished  as  such  by  Act  of  Parliament,  the 
homeless  at  home  grew  desperate,  and  through  the  autumn  and 
winter  outrages  were  common.  Landlords,  agents,  bailiffs, 
magistrates  and  police  fell  victims  to  popular  wrath,  and  rarely 
were  the  assailants  brought  to  Justice.  Parliament  was  sum- 
moned in  November,  but  instead  of  the  evictor's  hand  being 
stayed,  the  old  specitic  for  Irish  disaffection  was  again  tried, 
and  a  Coercion  Bill  was  soon  passed  into  law.  But  disaffection 
continued  and  increased.  Mitchel  openly  advocated  violence, 
resolved  to  cross  the  path  of  the  British  car  of  conquest  even 
though  it  should  crush  him  to  atoms.  Unable  to  carry  with  him 
the  Irish  Confederation,  he  seceded  from  it ;  unable  to  persuade 
the  Nation  newspaper,  he  established  the  United  Irishman, 
and  in  its  columns  urged  that  the  corn  leaving  the  country 
to  pay  rents  should  be  forcibly  detained  to  feed  the  hun- 
gry. 

Under  the  influence  of  Mitchel 's  teaching,  Sarsfield  Clubs 
were  formed,  arms  were  purchased,  pikes  manufactured,  men 
were  enrolled  and  drilled  and  studied  the  tactics  of  guerilla 
warfare.  Before  the  new  year  had  advanced  far,  his  hands 
"^ere  strengthened  by  the  events  which  occurred  in  England 
and  on  the  Continent.  The  English  Chartists  demanding  man- 
hood suffrage,  vote  by  ballot,  annual  Parliaments,  pa^ineut  of 
members  and  other  things,  and  finding  that  Parliament  per- 
sistently refused  their  demands,  now  menaced  Parliament  with 
force.  In  France,  Louis  Philippe  was  dethroned;  the  Austrians 
were  driven  from  Italy;  there  were  uprisings'  in  Rome  and  Vi- 
enna and  Berlin;  and  the  sounds  that  came  to  Ireland  across 
the  seas  were  the  exultant  shouts  of  the  masses,  the  lamenta- 
tions of  reactionary  and  discarded  ministers  and  the  crash  of 
falling  thrones.  Mitchel 's  adherents  soon  increased;  the  Con- 
federation adopted  his  views,  and  Smith  O'Brien,  Meagher, 
Dillon  and  the  other  leaders  became  as  anxious  as  he  was  to 
try  the  fortune  of  war.  Accordingly  they  resolved  to  rise  in  re- 
bellion in  the  autumn. 

The  Government,  however,  anticipated  them,  and  a  Trea- 


1&4  THE  FAMINE  TO   IS 70 

son  Felony  Act  was  passed,  making  the  speaking,  writing  or 
printing  anything  revohitionary  pnnishable  by  transportation; 
and  nnder  this  new  Act,  Mitchel  was  arrested,  and  by  means 
of  a  dniy  packed  jnry,  was  convicted  and  sent  for  fonrteen 
years  to  Van  Dieman's  Land.  The  United  Irishman  was  snp- 
pressed;  and  so  were  its  two  snccessors,  the  Irish  Tribnne  and 
the  Irish  Felon,  and  in  Jnly  the  Habeas  Corpns  Act  was  sns- 
pended.  Had  it  not  been,  there  wonld  probably  have  been  no 
attempt  at  insnrrection.  Mitchel  was  the  only  nian  of  action 
among  the  leaders.  Bnt  when  the  Habeas  Corpns  Act  had  been 
snspended,  O'Brien  and  his  friends,  knowing  that  they  wonld 
be  at  once  cast  into  prison,  left  Dublin  to  rouse  the  masses  at 
Tipi^erary. 

The  priests,  however,  had  been  there  before  them,  and 
pointing  out  the  futility  of  undisciplined  masses  waging  war 
against  a  great  empire,  induced  many  to  abandon  the  idea  of 
a  rebellion.  Many  others  were  disgusted  with  Smith  O'Brien. 
He  was  honorable,  upright,  chivalrous  and  brave,  but  he  was 
also  weak  and  irresolute,  and  utterly  incompetent  to  be  a  suc- 
cessful leader,  either  in  peace  or  war.  An  abortive  attack  on  a 
l)olice  barrack  at  Ballingarry  was  his  only  exploit.  The  crowds 
then  melted  away  from  him,  and  he  and  Meagher  and  ]\I']\ranus 
were  arrested,  convicted  and  sentenced  to  death,  the  sentence 
in  each  case  being  commuted  to  transportation  beyond  the  seas. 
Duffy  was  prosecuted  but  acquitted;  Dillon  escaped  to  Ameri- 
ca; others  were  thrown  into  prison,  imder  the  Habeas  Corpus 
Act,  or  were  pardoned;  the  Government  had  triumphed,  and  the 
insurrection  of  1848  was  at  an  end,  and  alas!  the  party  of  Young 
Ireland  was  no  more ! 

Thus  fell  that  party  whose  genius  won  the  admiration  of 
the  world,  the  purity  of  whose  motives,  the  chivalry  of  whose 
actions,  even  their  direst  foes  confessed.  They  were  wrecked 
in  a  hurricane  of  popular  enthusiasm,  to  which  they  fatally 
spread  sail.  It  is  easy  for  us  now  to  discern  and  declare  the 
huge  error  into  which  they  were  impelled — the  error  of  medi- 
tating an  insurrection — the  error  of  judging  that  a  famishing 
l^easantry,  unarmed  and  undisciplined,  could  fight  and  conquer 
England  at  peace  with  all  the  world.  But  it  is  always  easy  to 
be  wise  after  the  fact.  At  the  time — in  the  midst  of  that  de- 
lirium of  excitement,  of  passionate  resolve  and  sanguine  hope — 
it  was  not  easy  for  generous  natures  to  choose  and  determine 
otherwise  than  as  they  did.  The  verdict  of  public  opinion — 
the  judgment  of  their  own  country — the  judgment  of  the  world 
— had  done  them  justice.  It  has  proclaimed  their  unwise 
course,  the  error  of  noble,  generous,  and  self-sacrificing  men. 


JOHN  F.  O'CONNOR  165 

THE  GREAT  EVICTIONS  AND  DEPOPULATION 

In  ISil  there  were  -191,000  Irish  families  or  nearly  four 
million  persons  living  in  mud-hovels  with  only  one  hearth, 
forty-three  per  cent  of  the  entire  agricnltnral  tenantry  living 
in  one-roomed  lionses.  In  1817  the  number  of  small  holdings 
exceeded  1,300,000,  about  a  million  being  less  than  five  acres  in 
extent,  and  nearly  700,000  under  one  acre.  The  operation  of 
Mr.  Gregory's  land-clause  compelling  those  who  sought  out- 
door relief  to  forfeit  all  but  one  quarter-acre  of  their  land  soon 
left  many  of  these  holdings  unoccupied,  and  thousands  of  tlie 
mud-hovels  were  emptied  or  destroyed  by  fever  and  hunger. 
But  these  agents  of  depopulation  were  not  enough  to  satisfy 
the  impatience  of  the  landlords.  Tenants  from  whom  the  last 
farthing  might  be  squeezed  were  tolerated,  because  they  were 
more  profitable  on  the  land  than  cattle;  but  tenants  who  could 
pay  no  rent,  who  entered  the  workhouses  or  received  outdoor 
relief,  and  as  such  were  a  burden  upon  the  land,  were  deemed 
worse  than  the  barren  fig-tree,  and  deserving  of  a  similar  fate. 
And  the  great  clearances  were  continued  throughout  the  fam- 
ine, and  long  after  the  famine  had  passed  away. 

Pity  and  kindness  the  vast  majority  of  landlords  had  never 
shown  where  their  tenantry  were  concerned,  and  they  showed 
neither  now.  In  the  depths  of  winter  as  in  summer,  whole  fam- 
ilies— the  sick,  the  infirm,  the  aged — were  ruthlessly  cast  out, 
and  often  when  not  a  penny  of  rent  was  due.  In  one  Union 
6,000  families  were  evicted  in  a  single  year.  On  one  small  es- 
tate, one  hundred  and  twenty  houses  were  levelled;  on  another, 
twenty- three  in  a  single  day;  in  a  fortnight,  twelve  hundred 
persons  were  made  homeless;  within  a  few  months  1,000  cabins 
were  thrown  down;  whole  districts  were  cleared  to  make  way 
for  larger  farms.  Forbidden  to  use  the  ruined  houses  from 
which  they  had  been  driven,  the  evicted  lived  behind  hedges 
and  ditches  until  cold  and  hunger  drove  them  to  the  work- 
house. In  one  case  five  families  lived  in  a  single  room  only 
twelve  feet  square;  in  a  piggery  five  feet  by  four  a  widow  and 
her  three  children  lived  for  three  weeks;  a  woman  ill  of  dysen- 
tery lay  down  in  a  cow-shed,  and  the  inspector  coming  to  see 
her  was  ankle-deep  in  mud. 

Even  such  lodging  as  this  the  landlords  grudged.  They 
ordered  the  evicted  to  be  cleared  off  their  properties,  and  ])ro- 
hibited  the  tenants  still  remaining  from  taking  them  in.  Any 
shelter  put  up  was  pulled  down,  and  in  one  case  a  temporary 
hut  of  this  kind  was  set  on  fire  by  the  landlord's  bailiff,  while 
the  evicted  tenant  was  at  the  relief  works  and  his  wife  and  cliil- 


166  THE  FAMINE  TO   1870 

dren  were  gathering  shell-fish  on  the  neighboring  strand  to 
save  themselves  from  starving.  All  this  happened  in  the  Kil- 
rush  Union  within  the  year  ending  May,  1849,  and  is  taken 
from  a  Government  inspector's  unadorned  and  imemotional  re- 
port. On  a  bleak  hillside  in  Galway  on  New  Year's  Eve,  in  the 
midst  of  a  violent  storm,  a  whole  family  was  thrown  out.  For 
the  sake  of  their  children  who  were  sick,  the  parents  begged 
even  one  night's  shelter,  but  they  begged  in  vain.  And  there 
were  thousands  of  other  cases  rivalling  these  in  barbarity. 

But  still  Parliament  would  do  nothing.  There  was  no  re- 
dress of  grievances,  no  staying  of  the  evictor's  hand.  Sharman 
Crawford's  Land  Bills  of  1848  and  1850,  extending  the  Ulster 
custom  to  all  Ireland,  was  rejected  with  scorn,  and  even  the 
milder  measures  of  the  Irish  Secretary,  Lord  Lincoln,  were  not 
passed.  Mild  as  these  latter  were,  they  were  looked  at  askance 
by  Lord  John  Eussell ;  and  as  for  Sharman  Crawford 's  Bills,  he 
declared  them  to  be  subversive  of  the  rights  of  property,  meas- 
ures which  no  Government  with  a  sense  of  justice  could  pass. 
But  he  passed  a  Coercion  Act  in  1847  and  another  in  1848,  and 
the  latter  was  renewed  in  the  two  following  years.  The  fact 
was  that  British  statesmen  of  both  parties  viewed  not  only  with 
complacency  but  with  joy  this  thinning  of  the  Irish  peasantry. 

From  1849  to  1856  a  million  and  a  half  had  emigrated,  one- 
fifth  of  whom  had  been  actually  evicted.  The  strong  and 
healthy  were  thus  leaving  the  shores  of  Ireland,  and  her  popu- 
lation, which  in  1841  was  over  8,200,000,  in  1851  stood  at  6,500,- 
000  and  was  reduced  in  1861  to  5,760,000.  The  Times  wrote 
exultingly  that  in  another  generation  the  Irish  Celts  would  be 
as  obsolete  in  Ireland  as  the  Phoenicians  in  Cornwall,  and  the 
Catholic  religion  as  forgotten  as  the  worship  of  Astarte. 

When  an  Irish  property  was  advertised  for  sale  in  the 
Landed  Estates  Courts,  it  was  regularly  mentioned  as  an  in- 
ducement to  purchasers  that  the  tenants  had  no  leases.  It  was 
assumed  that  the  incoming  landlord  would  care  nothing  for  the 
tenants,  and  would  raise  the  rents  or  evict  as  best  suited  his 
purpose.  And  all  over  the  country  tenants  were  being  evicted 
for  non-payment  of  an  impossible  rent,  for  voting  against  his 
landlord,  for  refusing  to  send  his  children  to  the  Protestant 
schools,  for  getting  his  daughter  married  without  the  previous 
permission  of  his  landlord,  for  giving  a  night's  lodging  to  a 
stranger,  for  harboring  an  evicted  tenant.  Tenants  were  turned 
out  who  owed  no  rent,  and  turned  out  in  all  kinds  of  weather, 
and  with  their  whole  families — the  sick,  the  aged,  the  father- 
less orphan,  the  mother  with  her  new-born  babe.  And  those 
not  evicted  had  to  submit  to  conditions  which  only  slaves  could 


JOHN  F.  O'CONNOR  167 

have  endured;  to  the  exactions  of  the  landlord,  the  insolence  of 
the  agent,  the  brutality  of  the  bailiff,  the  insults  of  every  menial 
whom  the  landlord  or  agent  employed. 

It  was  not  in  human  nature  that  these  things  could  be 
patiently  borne,  and  the  harassed  tenant,  having  no  hope  from 
Parliament,  looked  to  the  Ribbon  lodges  for  vengeances,  and 
he  looked  not  in  vain.  The  evicting  landlord  or  his  agent,  the 
over-officious  bailiff,  the  grabber  who  occupied  an  evicted  hold- 
ing, had  one  and  all  need  to  tremble,  and  often  fell  beneath  the 
assassin's  hand  and  generally  unpitied  by  the  people.  In  Ar- 
magh a  land-agent  was  stoned  to  death  in  open  day,  and  his 
murderers,  caught  red-handed,  were  acquitted;  in  Monaghan 
an  agent  was  beaten  to  death;  in  Cavan,  a  lady;  in  Westmeath 
a  grabber  was  shot  dead  in  the  presence  of  three  men,  who  re- 
fused to  aid  the  murdered  man  as  he  fell  mortally  wounded;  in 
Clare  a  landlord's  house  was  set  on  tire,  and  house  and  occu- 
pant burned  to  ashes.  A  generous  and  kindly  people,  maddened 
by  oppression,  were  being  turned  into  ferocious  savages.  And 
yet  Parliament  would  not  interfere,  would  not  give  the  slight- 
est help  to  the  unfortunate  tenants. 

BEITISH  LEGISLATION 

But  what  was  the  British  Government  doing  for  the  Irish 
tenants?    We  shall  now  see. 

The  Irish  peasant's  history  has  been  indeed  sad  and  tragic. 
After  the  conquest,  the  Anglo-Norman  lords  extended  to  him 
the  burdens  but  not  the  blessings  of  the  feudal  system.  The  re- 
ligious changes  of  the  sixteenth  century  greatly  embittered  the 
relations  between  the  ruling  and  the  sulDJect  classes.  The  confis- 
cations and  plantations  of  the  seventeenth  century  accentuated 
and  perpetuated  the  antagonisms  which  prevailed;  and  when 
Protestants  had  been  invested  with  lands  and  power,  and  Cath- 
olics had  been  deprived  of  both,  the  relations  established  be- 
tween landlord  and  tenant  were  almost  impossible  for  the  peas- 
ant to  endure. 

In  the  Irish  Protestant  Parliament  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, the  landlords'  power  was  supreme.  To  the  lands  they 
held,  confiscation  was  their  common  title.  It  was  the  Catholics 
around  them  who  had  been  despoiled,  and  the  main  object  of 
the  Penal  Code  was  to  impoverish  and  degrade  them,  to  leave 
them  without  power  to  rebel,  the  hope  of  improving  their  con- 
dition, or  even  the  spirit  to  complain.  And  to  this  extent,  the 
Penal  Code  succeeded.  Native  and  English  writers  of  the 
eighteenth    century — Swift    and    Prior,  Berkeley,  Dobbs  and 


168  THE   FAMINE  TO   1870 

Young — had  pictured  the  condition  of  the  peasants  of  their  time 
as  in  the  lowest  scale  of  human  misery.  Newenham  and  Wake- 
field, who  wrote  in  the  early  part  of  the  next  century,  could 
only  show  that  this  condition  was  not  improyed  by  the  Act  of 
Union;  and  Be  Beaumont,  a  Frenchman,  who  studied  the  Irish 
cpiestion  with  the  unprejudiced  eyes  of  a  foreigner,  declared 
in  1837  that  the  miseries  endured  by  the  Irish  peasant  were 
worse  than  those  of  the  Indian  in  his  forests  or  those  of  the 
negro  in  his  chains. 

The  British  Parliament  had  at  no  time  been  just  where 
Irish  Catholic  tenants  were  concerned.  Its  sympathies  had 
been  with  the  Irish  Parliament  in  its  enactment  of  tbe  Penal 
Code.  Its  reluctance  to  grant  ciyil  rights  to  Catholics  was 
shown  long  after  the  era  of  ])enal  legislation  had  passed  away; 
and  its  obstinate  resistance  to  emancijiation  was  especially  dis- 
creditable in  yiew  of  the  promises  made  at  the  Union  by  Pitt 
and  Castlereagh.  The  fact  was  that  England  had  long  con- 
tinued to  regard  the  Irish  Catholics  as  foes — and  sought  to 
exterminate  them.  Disdaining  to  conciliate  them,  she  refused 
to  allay  their  discontent,  and  preferred  to  liaye  tliem  helpless 
and  poor. 

But  the  Irish  landlords,  on  the  contrary,  she  regarded  with 
special  affection.  These  men  of  her  own  race  and  religion  she 
had  planted  on  Irish  soil  in  the  midst  of  a  hostile  population. 
She  ruled  Ireland  through  them,  loaded  them  with  power  and 
priyileges,  gratified  their  eyery  caprice,  condoned  their  numer- 
ous misdeeds,  protected  them  from  the  wrath  of  those  whom 
they  had  treated  as  worse  than  slayes,  and  this  with  tlie  whole 
force  of  a  mighty  empire.  Eyery  secret  society  which  arose, 
from  the  Whiteboys  to  the  Eibbonmen.  owed  its  origin  to  op- 
pressiye  landlordism;  almost  eyery  outrage  perpetrated  might 
be  traced  to  the  same  cause,  and  this  eyery  thoughtful  writer 
and  speaker  was  ready  to  acknowledge. 

But  Parliament  would  not  interfere.  At  the  cost  of  a  few 
shillings,  the  landlord  could  obtain  an  ejectment  decree,  wheth- 
er the  rent  had  been  paid  or  not:  he  could  raise  the  rent  at  will; 
he  could  distrain  the  tenants'  growing  crops  for  rent  and  sell 
them  when  ripe,  charging  the  expense  of  doing  so  on  the  ten- 
ant. He  could  make  what  arbitrary  estate  rules  he  pleased, 
could  send  the  tenants'  cattle  to  the  ]wund,  for  this  reason  or 
that  reason  or  for  no  reason  at  all ;  and  if  the  tenant  summoned 
the  offending  landlord  or  bailiff",  he  knew  what  to  ex])ect  from 
a  landlord  magistrate  on  the  Bench.  If  he  merely  complained, 
he  might  haye  his  rent  raised;  if  he  complained  publicly,  he 
was  regarded  as  a  disloyal  subject;  if  he  joined  a  secret  so- 


JOHN  F.  O'CONNOR  169 

cietv,  he  might  be  sent  to  ]nnson  or  to  the  scaffold;  and  if  dis- 
tnrbances  arose,  the  landlords  cried  ont  for  repressive  laws, 
and  Parliament  promptly  responded  bv  giving  them  a  Coercion 
Act. 

Despairing  of  Parliament,  O'Connell  looked  to  Eepeal  as 
the  great  remedy,  and  agitated  the  I^and  qnestion  bnt  little. 
Bnt  Mr.  Brownlovr  in  IS'29  bronght  in  a  bill  for  the  reclamation 
of  waste  lands;  Mr.  Ponlett  Scope,  an  old  friend  to  Ireland,  in- 
trodnced  a  Land  Bill  in  1834;  and  Mr.  Sliarman  Crawford 
bronght  in  bills  in  1836  and  1837,  merely  giving  the  tenant 
compensation  for  distnrbance.  Not  one  of  these  measnres 
passed  into  lav\^  Parliament  wonld  do  nothing  except  pass 
Coercion  Acts.*  The  landlords  and  tenants  were  left  face  to 
face;  the  former  evicted;  the  latter,  driven  to  desperation,  had 
reconrse  to  secret  societies  and  ontrage;  and  in  the  desultory 
agrarian  warfare  which  went  on,  the  landlord's  writ  was  met 
by  the  peasant's  gun. 

Sir  Eobert  Peel  had  no  affection  for  Ireland  and  little  for 
reform.  He  was  Irish  Secretary  in  1811,  when  Judge  Fletcher 
advised  the  Grand  Jurors  of  Vricklow  to  give  their  tenants  a 
property  in  their  holdings,  assuring  them  that  such  action  on 
the  part  of  the  landlords  would  be  more  efficacious  for  the  re- 
pression of  outrages  than  the  cord  and  the  gibbet.  But  Peel 
shut  his  eyes  and  closed  his  ears,  dined  and  feasted  with 
Orangemen  and  landlords,  and  in  1817  passed  a  bill  through 
Parliament  cheapening  and  making  easier  the  ]irocess  of  evic- 
tion. In  the  years  that  followed,  whether  in  office  or  out  of  it, 
he  was  the  steady  advocate  of  coercion  for  Ireland,  And  when 
he  died  in  1850,  the  Irish  people  shed  tears  indeed,  but  they 
were  tears  not  of  grief  but  of  ,ioy.  Nor  is  their  hatred  of  him 
to  be  wondered  at.  Had  he  done  his  duty,  Ireland  had  been 
spared  the  awful  horrors  of  the  famine  of  '17.  Had  he  had  any 
compassion  on  Ireland,  not  a  soul  would  have  perished  when  the 
potato  blight  smote  her! 

Sir  Eobert  Peel,  the  Tory,  was  succeeded  in  office  by  Lord 
John  Eussell,  the  Whig.  It  is  enough  to  say  of  him  that  if  any 
man  is  to  share  with  Peel  the  awful  guilt  of  that  frightful  loss 
of  life  which  took  ])lace  during  the  famine  years,  it  is  Lord  John 
Eussell.  For  he,  like  Peel,  refused  obstinately  and  callously  to 
do  anything  substantial  to  relieve  the  terrible  distress  of  those 
years."  The  brutal  treatment  of  the  Irish  ]:>eople  by  these  two 
English  statesmen  seems  beyond  belief!  History  holds  them 
guilty  of  as  black  a  crime  as  was  ever  perpetrated — the  death 
by  famine  and  fever  of  a  million  and  a  half  of  human  beings! 
Nor  were  their  successors  in  office  a  whit  more  merciful 


170  THE  FAMINE  TO   1870 

towards  Ireland.  The  Tories,  Aberdeen  and  Derby,  and  the 
Whig,  Palinerston,  however  they  differed  on  other  questions, 
were  alike  in  this — their  ntter  callousness  to  the  sufferings  of 
the  Irish  people.  Indeed  of  these  three,  Palmerston  perhaps 
was  the  most  heartless.  A  few  weeks  before  his  death  in  1865, 
he  threw  off  his  mask  of  mock  Whig-sympathy,  and  bluntly 
and  brutally  declared  that  he  utterly  repudiated  tenant  rights 
that  in  his  opinion  tenant  right  was  nothing  else  but  landlord- 
wrong. 

It  was  not  imtil  the  uprising  of  the  Fenians  that  English 
statesmen  condescended  to  listen  to  the  tragic  cries  of  the  Irish 
people.  And  even  then,  as  Gladstone  himself  candidly  con- 
fessed, it  was  not  pity  but  fear  that  caused  them  to  seek  some 
other  remedy  than  coercion  for  the  woes  of  Ireland.  Especially 
did  they  dread  the  use  of  the  terrible  dynamite  bomb  by  the  en- 
raged Irish  patriots.  The  blowing  up  of  Clerkenwell  prison  it 
was  that  caused  Gladstone  to  disestablish  the  Irish  Protestant 
Church  and  to  pass  the  land  act  of  1870.  Mercy  was  a  word 
never  found  in  the  vocabulary  of  English  statesmen  whenever  it 
was  a  question  of  Irish  suffering  they  were  asked  to  consider! 
Truly,  ' '  Who  would  be  free  themselves  must  strike  the  blow ! ' ' 

Again  I  assert  that  no  one  who  studies  Irish  history  can 
for  a  moment  doubt  that  almost  down  to  the  present  day  it  has 
been  the  settled  policy  of  the  English  Government  to  extermin- 
ate the  Irish  race.  In  the  execution  of  that  policy,  even  famine 
was  a  welcome  agent.  That  is,  I  am  aware,  an  awful  statement 
to  make,  but  I  make  it  unhesitatingly — for  it  is  the  truth. 
Steadilv  vear  bv  vear  the  depopulation  of  Ireland  goes  on.  In 
1841  Ireland's  population  was  8,200,000;  today  it  is  4,375,000, 
If  extermination  has  not  been  the  one  and  only  aim  of  English 
statesmen  in  their  treatment  of  Ireland — then  how  can  you 
explain  these  figures?  How  explain  their  heartless  treatment 
of  her  during  the  awful  famine  years  of  '46,  '47,  '48  ? 

THE  TENANT  EIGHT  LEAGUE 

When  the  year  1850  dawned,  the  outlook  was  dark.  The 
famine  had  not  yet  quite  spent  itself,  and  more  than  240,000 
persons  filled  the  workhouses.  Rents  were  raised,  even  in  Ul- 
ster, and  in  spite  of  the  Ulster  custom,  the  clearances  went  on. 
The  tide  of  emigration  rose  higher  and  higher.  The  population 
was  rapidly  dwindling,  and  all  over  the  country  cattle  and 
slieep  were  being  substituted  for  men.  From  Lord  John  Rus- 
sell nothing  could  be  got  but  coercion;  and  nothing  could  be 
eff'ected  in  Parliament  by  the  corrupt  and  incapable  men  whom 


JOHN  F.  O'CONNOR  171 

the  Irish  electors  sent  there.  Driven  to  desperation,  the  peas- 
ants had  recourse  to  secret  societies.  There  had  been  a  long 
succession  of  them — Whiteboys,  Whitefeet,  Terryalts,  Eock- 
ites,  Eibbonmen  and  others;  bnt  by  this  time  the  Ribbon  So- 
ciety had  distanced  all  its  rivals — like  Aaron's  rod  it  had  swal- 
lowed them  all.  With  its  lodges,  its  secret  meetings,  its  oaths 
and  passwords  and  signs,  it  had  extended  over  the  land.  Re- 
cruited from  the  peasantry,  it  watched  the  peasant's  interests 
and  avenged  its  wrongs,  and  the  landlord  or  agent  who  pulled 
down  the  peasant's  cabin  was  laid  low  by  the  Ribbonman's 
avenging  hand. 

These  methods,  however,  were  abhorrent  to  many  of  the 
tenants'  best  friends,  and  in  1850  a  Tenant  Defence  Society 
was  formed  at  Callan  in  Kilkenny,  and  within  a  few  months 
similar  societies  were  formed  elsewhere,  some  of  them  in  Ulster. 
Holding  their  meetings  public  and  keeping  within  the  law,  they 
relied  on  mutual  co-operation,  on  the  pressure  of  public  opinion, 
on  having  honest  representatives  in  Parliament.  If  only  these 
various  associations  would  combine  into  one  national  organ- 
ization, if  north  and  south  would  agree  to  sink  their  differences 
for  the  tenants'  sake,  much  could  be  done;  and  in  the  hope  of 
forming  such  an  organization,  a  circular  was  sent  broadcast, 
signed  by  men  of  different  religions,  and  asking  the  tenants' 
friends  to  meet  in  Dublin. 

This  Tenant  Right  Conference  met  in  Dublin,  on  the  6th  of 
August,  and  was  a  remarkable  gathering.  For  the  moment, 
the  Bojaie  was  bridged,  and  north  and  south  were  brought  to- 
gether. The  chairman  of  the  meeting  was  Dr.  MacNight,  the 
Presbyterian  proprietor  of  the  Banner  of  Ulster.  Scattered 
around  the  room  were  tenants,  a  few  liberal  landlords,  Presby- 
terian ministers  and  Catholic  priests;  Mr.  Godkin,  the  editor 
of  the  Protestant  Derry  Standard;  Mr.  Maguire  of  the  Catholic 
Cork  Examiner;  Mr.  Greer,  an  Ulster  Presbyterian  lawyer;  Dr. 
Gray  of  the  Freeman,  and  Mr.  Duffy  of  the  Nation,  both  of 
whom  had  shared  imprisonment  with  0  'Council ;  and  Mr.  Fred- 
erick Lucas,  the  Catholic  editor  of  the  Catholic  Tablet.  The 
last  named  was  probably  the  ablest  of  them  all.  At  this  con- 
ference resolutions  were  passed  demanding  for  the  tenants 
fixity  of  tenure,  fair  rents  and  free  sale,  and  an  equitable  ar- 
rangement regarding  arrears  which  had  accumulated  during 
the  famine,  and  that  henceforth  all  Parliamentary  candidates 
should  pledge  themselves  to  be  independent  and  oppose  any 
and  every  British  party  which  refused  to  concede  the  tenauts' 
demands. 

During  the  next  twelve  months  a  vigorous  propaganda  was 


172  THE  FAMINE  TO  1870 

carried  on  both  in  the  press  and  on  the  platform.  The  Tenant 
Eight  movement  made  great  strides,  and  in  the  General  Elec- 
tion of  1852,  forty  members  were  retnrned  pledged  to  Tenant 
Eights  and  Independent  Opposition.  Lncas  was  retnrned  for 
Meatli,  Gavan  Dnffy  for  New  Eoss,  John  Francis  Maguire  for 
Dnngarvan,  George  Henry  Moore  for  ]\[ayo — all  men  of  the 
liighest  attainments,  and  all  men  of  nnblemished  honor.  The 
General  Election  over,  the  new  Irish  party  met  in  Dnblin,  and  a 
resolntion  was  carried,  with  only  one  dissentient,  declaring  it 
essential  "that  all  members  retnrned  on  Tenant  Eight  prinei- 
l^les  should  hold  themselves  perfectly  independent,  and  in  op- 
position to  all  Governments  which  do  not  make  it  part  of  their 
policy,  and  a  Cabinet  question,  to  give  to  the  tenantry  of  Ireland 
a  measure  embodying  the  principles  of  lsh\  Sharman  Craw- 
ford's Bill" 

Things  once  more  looked  bright  for  Ireland.  The  hopes  of 
Irishmen  rose  high.  A  united  Irish  party  was  capable  of  ac- 
complishing almost  anything.  But  these  hopes  were  soon 
blighted.  For  alas!  the  Tenant  Eight  party  was  united  only  in 
name. 

It  had  among  its  members  as  rascally  a  band  of  self- 
seekers,  as  foul  a  band  of  traitors  as  ever  betrayed  a  country. 
Of  course,  I  refer  to  the  infamous  political  freebooters — John 
Sadlier,  William  Keough  and  their  followers,  known  as  the 
Brass  Band  Brigade.  When  the  list  of  the  minor  appointments 
in  the  new  Whig  government  was  published  January  1,  1853.  it 
was  discovered  that  Keough  was  Irish  Solicitor-General,  John 
Sadlier  a  Lord  of  the  Treasmy,  Edmond  0 'Flaherty  a  Com- 
missioner of  Income  Tax,  and  Monsel,  Clerk  of  the  Ordinance. 
Contrary  to  their  plighted  word,  they  had  taken  office  without 
consulting  their  colleagues  and  without  obtaining  any  promise 
of  Irish  legislation  from  the  Government.  They  had  jiistified 
the  suspicions  of  Lucas  and  Duffy,  who  disliked  them  from  the 
beginning.  The  country  wliich  believed  in  them,  they  had 
shamefully  betrayed ! 

Of  course,  such  treachery  could  not  go  unpunished,  and 
Lucas  and  Duffy  did  their  utmost  to  defeat  them  when  they 
came  up  for  re-election. 

But  British  gold  proved  stronger  than  they.  The  union  of 
the  Orange  north  and  the  Catholic  south  so  frightened  the 
British  Government  that  it  left  no  stone  unturned  to  disrupt 
the  Tenant  Eight  League  and  to  re-elect  the  Irish  traitors. 
Such  wholesale  corruption  was  not  seen  in  Ireland  since  the^ 
days  of  Pitt  and  Castlereagh.  The  result  was  only  what  was  to 
be  expected.    Sadlier  and  Keough  and  their  followers  were  re- 


JOHN  F.  O'CONNOR  173 

turned  to  Parliameut,  and  the  Tenant  Eight  League  was 
wrecked.  Yes,  Ireland  once  more  lay  a  writhing  victim  at  the 
feet  of  her  foe!  In  October,  1855,  Lucas  died  like  O'Connell  of 
a  broken  heart.  _  A  few  months  later,  Dufty,  grieving  for  his 
dead  friend  and  despairing  of  Ireland,  resigned  his  seat  in 
Parliament,  and  sailed  for  Australia.  From  that  day  until  the 
Fenian  Insurrection  of  ^66,  Ireland  was  to  British  Tory  and 
British  AVliig  alike  an  object  of  scorn  and  derision.  ''Ireland 
now  lies  like  a  corpse  on  the  dissecting  table!"  cried  grief- 
stricken  Gavan  Duffy.  "Yes,  and  thank  God  that  she  does!" 
exultingly  shouted  in  reply  the  brutal  land-oligarchy  which  at 
that  time  ruled  >tlie  British  empire. 

FENIANISM 

In  the  evidence  given  before  tlie  Devon  Commission  in 
1843,  the  state  of  Ireland,  as  affected  by  its  land  laws,  stands 
completely  revealed.  Many  of  the  landlords  were  too  poor  to 
be  generous  or  even  just  to  their  tenants.  Others,  hampered  by 
law  of  entail,  and  having  nothing  more  than  a  life-interest  in 
their  property,  were  too  reluctant  to  spend  money  on  improve- 
ments. A  good  iu"oi)ortion  were  absentees,  caring  as  little  for ' 
their  tenants  as  for  the  inhabitants  of  Timbuctoo.  The  rule  of 
the  agents  of  these  absentees  was  that  of  tyranny  and  not  in- 
frequently of  corruption.  They  gave  no  leases,  effected  no  im- 
provements, seized  the  buildings  made  by  the  tenants,  raised 
the  rent  on  land  he  had  improved,  and  evicted  him,  often  from 
mere  caprice.  In  spite  of  their  landlord  prejudices,  the  Devon 
Commissioners  declared  that  the  uncertainty  of  tenure  para- 
lyzed all  exertion,  and  was  a  fatal  bar  to  improvements.  They 
found  that  where  the  Lister  custom  was  allowed,  and  the  ten- 
ants could  sell  the  goodwill  of  their  farms,  agrarian  outrages 
were  rare;  where  it  was  not  allowed,  they  were  common;  that 
nearly  half  the  holdings  in  Ireland  were  less  than  five  acres  in 
extent,  and  a  large  proportion  of  them  much  less ;  that  in  Kerry 
66  per  cent  of  the  houses  were  mucLcabins  with  but  one  room, 
in  Mayo  the  percentage  was  62,  in  Cork  and  Clare  56,  and  in  the 
rich  county  of  Down  it  was  25;  that  the  agricultural  laborer 
everywhere  was  badly  housed,  badly  fed,  badly  clothed,  badly 
paid  for  his  labor;  his  home  was  a  mud-cabin,  leaky  and  filled 
with  smoke;  his  food  potatoes  and  water;  his  bed  the  earthen 
floor,  without  a  blanket  to  cover  him;  his  property  a  pig  and  a 
heap  of  manure.  They  found  that  in  every  case  of  a  renewal 
of  a  lease,  the  rent  was  raised;  that  bailiffs  were  corrupt  and 
often  accepted  bribes;  that  growing  crops  were  seized  for  rent, 


174  THE   FAMINE  TO   1870 

a  practice  which  they  strongly  condemned.  These  evils  were 
of  long  standing,  and  could  not  be  cured  at  once  by  legislation. 
But  Parliament  could  have  interfered  to  give  the  tenant  some 
sort  of  security  of  tenure;  it  could  have  stopped  the  common 
practice  of  subdividing  holdings;  it  could  have  compelled  the 
farmer  to  build  better  houses  for  his  laborers;  and  in  a  country 
where  there  were  nearly  4,000,000  acres  of  improvable  waste 
lands,  some  employment  might  be  given  to  redundant  labor. 
What  embittered  the  Irish  farmers  and  laborers  was  that  Par- 
liament did  nothing  but  watch  complacently  the  decimation 
of  a  whole  people  by  famine,  eviction  and  emigration;  and  this 
while  the  great  English  newspaper,  the  Times,  gloated  over  the 
Irish  exodus,  and  gleefully  announced  that  in  a  short  time  a 
Celt  would  be  as  rare  in  Ireland  as  a  Red  Indian  on  the  shores 
of  Manhattan. 

As  for  the  landlords,  they  were  hopeless.    There  are  few  men 
who  will  not  abuse  unlimited  power,  and  the  Irish  landlords 
had  never  adopted  any  self-denying  ordinance  in  dealing  with 
tenants.     ]\Iany  of  these  landlords  had  been  overwhelmed  in 
the  famine,  but  their  successors  were  not  less  ready  than  they 
to  oppress  and  evict,  and  from  1850  to  1870  was  the  period  of 
the  great  clearances.     Thousands  of  the  holdings  were,  it  is 
true,  utterly  unable  to  decently  support  a  family,  and  thousands 
of  the  houses  levelled  were  utterly  unfit  for  human  habitation. 
And  if  the  landlords  had  compensated  the  tenant  and  enabled 
him  to  emigrate,  not  altogether  destitute  and  penniless,  evic- 
tion would  have  been  robbed  of  the  worst  of  its  terrors;  and 
when  the  Irishman  had  attained  to  some  measure  of  comfort  in 
a  foreign  land,  he  might  have  looked  back  without  regret  to 
those  days  when  he  rejoiced  only  in  misery  and  a  mud-cabin. 
Instead  of  this,  he  had  to  remember  that  his  landlord  had  driv- 
en him  out  without  compensation,  caring  nothing  about  what 
might  be  his  fate.    The  exile's  heart  was  sore,  and  neither  time 
nor  distance  nor  the  acquisition  of  wealth  could  make  him  for- 
get the  day  of  his  eviction  with  all  its  horrors.    The  worst  cases 
were  those — and  they  were  many — where  the  tenant  was  sent 
adrift  after  having  labored  and  toiled  to  improve  his  holding, 
after  having  built"  and  fenced  and  drained,  after  having  won 
the  bog  and  mountain  to  fertility.    When  all  this  was  done,  the 
landlord  cast  him  out,  seizing  on  all  the  improvements  he  had 

made. 

The  Quarterly  Review  (in  1854)  declared  that  ''the  cabins 
of  the  peasantry  were  pulled  down  in  such  numbers  as  to  give 
the  api>earance  throughout  whole  regions  of  the  south,  and  still 
more  of  the  west,  of  a  country  devastated  and  desolated  by  the 


JOHN  F.  O'CONNOR  175 

passage  of  a  hostile  army."  In  Westmeath  Dr.  Nulty  saw  700 
persons  evicted  in  a  single  day.  In  one  house  were  patients  de- 
lirious in  t}i3hus  fever,  but  even  that  house  was  pulled  down; 
and  as  the  shades  of  night  fell,  the  evicted,  young  and  old, 
cowered  under  the  hedges,  drenched  with  the  heavy  autumnal 
rains.  In  the  county  of  Mayo  a  whole  countryside  was  emptied 
of  its  inhabitants  by  Lord  Lucan,  and  in  the  same  county  even 
a  wider  stretch  of  country  was  cleared  by  Lord  Sligo.  Mr.  Pol- 
lock's clearances  in  Galway  were  equally  thorough.  In  the  lap 
of  the  Donegal  Mountains,  the  peaceful  valley  of  Glenveigh  was 
(in  1861)  cleared  in  a  single  day  by  Mr.  Adair.  Thus  were 
thousands  of  Irish  peasants  banished  to  foreign  lands,  bearing 
in  their  hearts  the  bitter  memory  of  wrong;  cursing  the  land- 
lords who  had  dispossessed  them,  and  the  English  Government 
by  which  these  landlords  were  sustained. 

Not  all  of  the  landlords,,  however,  deserved  these  maledic- 
tions, for  not  all  were  of  the  type  cT  Mr.  Adair.  But  those  who 
neither  evicted  nor  rack-rented  were  comparatively  few,  and 
in  consequence  the  condition  of  the  mass  of  the  tenants  was 
pitable.  In  a  country  where  industries  did  not  flourish,  the 
competition  for  land  was  so  keen  that  the  landlord  could  make 
his  own  terms.  Nor  did  he  consider  the  tenant  in  any  other 
light  than  as  a  rent-paying  machine,  to  have  his  rent  raised  or 
to  suffer  eviction  at  his  landlord 's  good  will.  If  he  built  a  new 
house,  then  surely  he  could  pay  more  rent,  and  his  rent  was 
raised;  if  he  fenced  or  drained  or  reclaimed,  the  land  was  there- 
by enriched  and  its  letting  value  was  greater;  if  he  or  his  chil- 
dren dressed  decently,  it  was  evident  that  they  were  comfort- 
able and  could  pay  more  rent  if  only  the  screws  were  put  on. 
And  there  were  estate  rules  which  could  be  imposed  only  on 
slaves,  and  which  only  those  long  habituated  to  slavery  could 
have  endured.  The  tenant  was  compelled  to  vote  for  his  land- 
lord's nominee  at  elections,  to  send  his  children  to  the  Protes- 
tant school,  to  get  his  landlord's  permission  to  marry  or  to  have 
any  of  his  children  married;  and  he  was  prohibited  from  build- 
ing houses  for  his  laborers,  or  giving  shelter  to  strangers. 

On  one  small  estate  in  Mayo,  the  Ormsby  estate,  the  old 
tenants  still  tell,  with  blazing  eyes,  how  they  had  to  work  even 
on  holidays  for  the  landlord  at  half  wages ;  and  when  the  har- 
vest came,  how  they  had  to  cut  his  oats  during  the  day,  and 
■f  ijen — for  there  was  no  other  time  available — how  they  had  to 
cut  their  own  oats  by  the  light  of  the  harvest  moon.  Even  the 
bailitf  on  many  estates  compelled  the  tenants  to  give  free  la- 
bor, and  thus  were  the  bailiff's  crops  sown  and  saved.  And  the 
cases  were  not  a  few  where  the  rent  was  not  raised,  the  eject- 


176  THE   FAMINE  TO   IS 70 

ment  process  withdrawn,  or  tlie  eviction  stayed,  because  the 
honor  of  a  bhishing  and  beantifnl  girl  was  sacrificed  to  a  ty- 
rant's hist.  It  was  these  things  above  all  which  made  weak 
men  strong  and  cowards  brave,  which  made  landlordism  an  un- 
clean and  an  accursed  thing,  and  nerved,  the  arm  of  the  assas- 
sin. 

In  spite  of  Lord  Palmerston's  landlord  sjanpathies,  such  a 
system  could  not  have  lasted  if  there  had  been  an  honest  and 
energetic  body  of  Irish  members  in  Parliament.  But  there  was 
no  such  body.  After  1857  Mr.  G.  H.  Moore  was  without  a  seat 
until  1868.  The  most  prominent  of  the  popular  representatives 
were  ^Ir.  J.  F.  Maguire,  Mr.  Martin  and  The  O'Donoghue,  and 
of  these  Mr.  ]\Iaguire  only  was  a  man  of  much  capacity,  and 
even  he  was  unable  to  carry  a  popular  movement  to  success.  To- 
wards the  end  of  186-1  Mr.  Dillon,  then  returned  from  his  Amer- 
ican exile,  started  the  National  Association  of  Ireland,  aided 
and  encouraged  by  Dr.  Culleu.  But  Mr.  Moore  would  have  no 
connection  with  any  movement  controlled  or  influenced  by  Dr. 
Cullen.  Mr.  Duffy,  who  was  home  on  a  visit  from  Australia, 
having  been  asked  to  join,  also  held  aloof,  and  for  the  same  rea- 
son as  Mr.  j\Ioore;  and  Mr.  Dillon  died  in  1866  before  the  Asso- 
ciation had  gone  far. 

There  were,  indeed,  Irish  members  who  posed  as  popular 
leaders  and  advocated  popular  measures.  And  the  aspiring 
national  member  during  those  years,  as  he  stood  upon  the  hust- 
ings and  asked  the  people's  votes,  was  glib  of  tongue  and  prodi- 
gal of  i^romises  as  man  could  be.  He  would  vote  an  extension 
of  the  franchise,  for  land  reform,  for  the  disestablishment  of 
the  State  Church;  he  would  support  no  Government  which  fail- 
ed to  favor  these  measures,  for  he  believed  in  the  i)olicy  of  In- 
dependent Opposition.  He  wanted  neither  place  nor  favor,  and 
was  satisfied  if  he  could  only  serve  Ireland.  These  promises 
and  protestations  were  set  off  by  vague  talk  about  an  oppressed 
people,  a  land  of  saints  and  heroes,  and  the  glorious  green  flag. 
Some  voters  estimated  this  eloquence  and  vehemence  at  its 
worth,  and  taking  the  candidate's  bribe,  gave  him  their  vote, 
knowing  well  that  neither  he  nor  his  opponent  was  sincere. 

But  there  were  others  who  had  not  yet  sounded  the  depths 
of  political  depravity,  and  believing  in  the  candidate  voted  in 
his  favor.  To  their  disgust  they  soon  found  how  much  they 
had  been  deceived.  When  the  candidate  entered  Parliament, 
he  at  once  forgot  his  promises,  scoffed  at  Independent  Opposi- 
tion, attached  himself  to  the  Government,  and  not  a  man  in  the 
party  was  more  obedient  to  the  crack  of  the  party  whip.  His 
reward  came  in  due  course.    A  tide-waiter-ship  or  a  position  in 


JOHN  F.  O'CONNOR  177 

tlie  Excise  for  his  illegitimate  son,  a  stipendiary  magistrate- 
ship for  a  son  who  was  too  stupid  to  succeed  at  a  profession,  a 
county  court  judgeship  for  a  brother  at  the  Bar,  a  fat  place  at 
home  or  a  colonial  governorship  for  himself — this  was  the  price 
given  for  his  Parliamentary  support.  And  if  some  indignant 
supporter  charged  him  with  his  pledge-breaking  and  treachery, 
he  coolly  admitted  his  offence,  chuckled  at  having  made  so  good 
a  bargain  with  the  Government,  and  even  thanked  God  that  he 
had  a  country  to  sell. 

Such  men  spoke  with  no  authority  in  Parliament,  and  were 
heard  with  no  j'espect.  Nor  could  Palmerston  and  men  like 
him  be  so  much  blamed  if  they  had  done  nothing  for  Ireland, 
seeing  that  the  Irish  voters  had  sent  such  men  to  the  House  of 
Commons. 

It  was  indeed  assumed  by  many  English  public  men  that 
Ireland  was  content  and  wanted  no  experiments  in  legislation. 
And  a  smooth-tongued  Viceroy,  Lord  Carlisle,  at  Lord  Mayor's 
banquets  and  cattle-shows,  year  after  year  reported,  like  the 
sentinel  on  the  watch-tower,  that  all,  was  well.  Crime  had  de- 
creased, religious  animosities  were  disappearing,  agricultural 
methods  were  improving,  education  spreading  among  the  mass- 
es, churches  and  schools  multiplied.  In  ten  years  the  number  of 
mud-cabins  had  fallen  from  -191,000  to  125,000,  and  this  neces- 
sarily involved  the  emigration  of  many  thousands,  the  most 
vigorous  and  energetic  of  the  race.  But,  convinced  that  Nature 
intended  Ireland  to  be  "the  mother  of  flocks  and  herds,"  Lord 
Carlisle  was  not  alarmed  at  this  exodus.  It  increased  the  rate 
of  wages  at  home,  and  resulted  in  bettering  the  lot  of  those 
who  remained;  as  if  indeed  a  dwindling  population  were  proof 
of  national  prosperity  rather  than  of  national  deca3\  This 
shallow  so})liistry  was  considered  good  enough  for  the  alder- 
men and  cattle-breeders  who  listened  to  him,  but  it  did  not  im- 
pose on  men  of  intelligence  and  patriotism,  and  was  little  wor- 
thy of  a  statesman  or  of  an  honest  public  man.  Nor  was  the 
applause  with  which  Lord  CVirlisle  was  greeted  able  to  silence 
the  voice  of  disaffection,  which  at  that  very  time  turned  from 
tlie  platform  and  Parliament  and  sought  an  outlet  through 
revolutionary  channels. 

As  far  back  as  1847,  a  general  strike  against  rent  was 
preached  in  the  Nation  and  the  Irish  Felon  by  James  Fintan 
Lalor,  a  man  of  great  power  of  expression,  Iwld,  fearless  and 
clear-sighted,  of  striking  and  original  views  and  of  indomitable 
will.  In  spite  of  the  events  of  that  and  the  following  year,  he 
was  not  discouraged,  and  in  1849  he  organized  in  Munster  an 
insurrection  which  was  even  a  greater  fiasco  than  Smith  0'- 


178  THE  FAMINE   TO   1870 

Brien's  attempt  of  1818.  Next  year  Lalor  died,  and  nothing 
was  attempted  till  1858,  when  some  young  men  in  Cork  and 
Kerry  established  a  revolntioiwiry  society.  Ostensibly  for  lit- 
erary purposes,  and  called  the  Phoenix  Literary  Society,  it  was 
really  a  secret  and  oath-bound  organization,  pledged  to  over- 
throw British  rule  in  Ireland  by  force  of  arms,  and  believing 
that  the  time  was  opportune  when  England  was  fully  occupied 
in  ))utting  down  the  Indian  Mutiny.  Its  headquarters  was  at 
Skibbereen,  its  branches  in  West  Cork  and  Kerry.  The  chief 
of  its  local  leaders  was  Jeremiah  O'Donavan  Eossa.  But  its 
real  founder  was  James  Stephens,  who  had  a  share  in  the  rising 
of  1818,  since  then  had  lived  mostly  at  Paris  and  mixed  much, 
with  foreign  revolutionists,  and  in  1858,  having  returned  to 
Ireland  was  acting  as  jorivate  tutor  to  a  gentleman  near  Kil- 
larney.  He  was  a  man  of  good  education,  with  a  capacity  for 
organization  and  secret  conspiracy,  believing  that  nothing 
could  be  done  for  Ireland  in  Parliament,  but  much  by  a  strong 
revolutionary  society  watching  England's  difficulties  and  ally- 
ing itself  with  her  foes.  The  Phoenix  Society,  however,  soon 
collapsed.  The  priests  denounced  it  from  the  altar.  Smith 
O'Brien  and  the  Nation,  then  under  ]\[r.  A.  M.  Sullivan,  public- 
ly assailed  it,  and  the  Government  arrested  the  leaders  and  had 
them,  in  1859,  tried  by  special  commission.  One  prisoner,  0'- 
Sullivan,  was  convicted  and  sentenced  to  penal  servitude;  and 
then  O'Donavan  Eossa  and  the  others  pleaded  guilty  and  were 
liberated,  and  an  end  had  come  to  the  Phoenix  Society. 

Stephens  was  not  among  those  arrested,  or  perhaps  sus- 
pected, and  returning  to  Paris,  began  to  build  up  a  new  and 
far  more  formidable  society  than  the  Phoenix  had  even  been. 
It  was  called  the  Irish  Eepublican  Brotherhood,  or  shortly  the 
I.  E.  B.;  but  in  America,  to  which  it  soon  spread,  it  was  called 
the  Fenian  Society,  and  its  members  the  Fenians,  the  name 
borne  by  the  famous  militia  of  olden  days,  which  were  com- 
manded by  Finn  MacCumhael.  Organized  into  circles,  each 
under  a  centre,  all  authority  converged  through  higher  centres 
commanding  many  circles,  towards  the  head  centre,  Stephens, 
who  was  now  in  su^oreme  command.  Thus,  while  the  lesser  of- 
ficers knew  little  of  the  organization,  and  had  therefore  little 
to  tell  if  they  were  traitors,  Stephens  knew  everything,  and 
held  the  threads  of  the  whole  movement  in  his  hands.  John 
O'Mahoney  was  supreme  in  America;  John  O'Leary,  Thomas 
Clarke  Luby  and  Charles  Kickham  in  Ireland;  and  there  Avere 
agents  also  in  England  and  Scotland.  O'Mahoney  was  a  grad- 
uate of  Trinity  College,  a  man  given  much  to  historical  studies, 
and  thoroughiv  honest  and  sincere.    O'Leary,  Luby  and  Kick- 


JOHX  F.  O'CONNOR  179 

liam  were,  like  O'Malionev,  all  Munster-men,  all  well  connected 
and  educated,  and  all — Kickliam  especially — men  of  literary 
capacity.  Aiding  tlieni  at  home  was  O'Donavan  Eossa;  aiding 
O'Malioney  in  America  were  Dolieny,  Corcoran  and  many 
others. 

Assuming  that  an  Irish  republic  was  formed  with  the  en- 
rolment of  the  first  members,  in  the  Fenian  oath,  allegiance 
was  sworn  to  the  new  republic,  which  necessarily  meant  a  repu- 
diation of  English  power.  Xor  was  there  any  difficulty  in  fuid- 
ing  thousands  who  were  ready  to  take  such  an  oath,  Irish 
landlordism  and  English  law,  as  administered  in  Ireland,  had 
planted  beyond  the  Atlantic  a  new  Irish  nation  more  fiercely 
opposed  to  England  than  even  the  old  green  island  at  home. 
Amid  the  rush  and  bustle  of  American  cities,  on  American 
farms  and  railroads,  in  the  lonely  log-cabin  in  American  woods, 
down  in  the  depths  of  American  mines  were  Irish  exiles  who 
thought  of  England  only  with  a  curse.  Their  fathers  had  told 
them  of  the  horrors  of  the  famine  days,  and  they  themselves 
had  seen  the  crowbar  brigade  at  work,  the  house  levelled  in 
which  they  were  born,  the  fire  quenched  around  which  they  had 
gathered  to  pray  at  their  mother's  knee.  They  knew  the  Eng- 
lish law  only  by  its  oppressions,  and  the  Government  only  as 
an  instrument  of  terror.  Irish  landlordism  and  English  rule 
they  had  always  seen  linked  together  in  injustice,  and,  as  they 
thought  of  them,  the  light  of  battle  was  in  their  eyes.  Nor  would 
they  have  hesitated  to  join  with  the  Hottentot  to  bring  England 
to  the  dust.  In  a  country  where  they  were  free  to  speak  out, 
they  used  language  of  violence  which  would  not  be  tolerated 
at  home,  and  one  newspaper  in  San  Francisco  openly  advocated 
assassination,  and  even  offered  a  reward  for  the  murder  of  in- 
dividual Irish  landlords  whom  it  named.  Xot  all  American 
Fenians  were  so  bloodthirsty  as  this,  but  all  hated  England  and 
loved  Ireland,  and  gave  expression  both  to  their  love  and  hatred 
in  swearing  allegiance  to  the  Irish  republic.  In  the  American 
Civil  War,  thousands  rushed  to  arms  for  one  side  or  the  other, 
and  thousands  of  them  fell  gloriously  on  American  battlefields. 
Others,  however,  passed  unscathed  through  the  fire  and  smoke 
of  battle,  and  when  the  Civil  War  was  over  in  1865,  200,000  Ir- 
ish-American soldiers  were  set  free  to  fight  England. 

In  Ireland,  meanwhile,  the  Fenian  circles  in  1860  and  1861 
were  being  slowly  filled.  But  in  the  latter  year  an  event  oc- 
curred which  had  a  stimulating  effect.  Terence  Bellew  M 'Man- 
ns, one  of  the  1818  men,  had  died  in  exile  in  San  Francisco,  and 
it  was  determined  to  bring  his  remains  to  Ireland.  Across  the 
American  Continent  was  one  long  national  demonstration,  and 


180  THE  FAMINE  TO  1870 

in  Dublin  no  such  funeral  procession  had  been  seen  since  0'- 
Connell's.  Tens  of  thousands  from  city  and  country  trudged 
through  the  streets  for  hours  on  that  bleak  November  day, 
and  while  the  torches  blazed  amid  the  fast-falling  shades  of 
gathering  night,  the  faces  of  the  spectators — mostly  young 
men — wore  a  stern  resolve  to  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  the 
dead.  Freely  they  joined  the  Fenian  ranks,  and  when  Steph- 
ens and  Luby  went  through  the  country  districts  subsequently^ 
crowds  had  already  taken  or  were  ready  to  take  the  Fenian 
oath. 

Towards  the  end  of  1863  sufficient  funds  were  available  to 
start  the  Irish  People,  which   was    the    organ  of  the  Fenians. 
O'Leary  was  editor,  Luby,  Kickham  and  Stephens  were  among 
the  contributors.    Its  object  was  to  promote  Fenianism;  to  dis- 
credit Parliamentary  agitation;  to  wean  the  Eibbonmen  from 
agrarian  national  objects ;  to  attack  all  who  opposed  the  Fenian 
movement,  as  unsafe  political  guides.    Much  hatred  of  England 
was  thus  stirred  up;  much  opposition  to  Parliamentary  action; 
and  the  Eibbonmen,  turning  from  agrarian  quarrels  and  the 
assassination  of  landlords,  swore  allegiance  to  the  Irish  repub- 
lic.   And  not  only  did  recruits  come  from  the  country  farmers' 
sons,  from  the  artisans  and  shopmen,  the  students  and  journal- 
ists of  the  cities  and  towns,  but  from  many  Government  offices, 
from  the  Dublin  police,  from  the  Irish  in  Great  Britain;  and 
thousands  of  the  Irish  soldiers  in  the  British  Army  also  joined. 
Fully  aware  that  a  Fenian  Society  existed  in  America  and 
in  Ireland,  the  Government  waited,  and  the  Times  sneered  at 
the  young  men  who  marched  and  drilled  at  night,  predicting 
that*  they  would  be  good  British  soldiers.    Suddenly,  however, 
guided  by  two  informers,  Nagle  and  Power,  the  ''Irish  People" 
in  September,  1865,  was  raided  by  detectives,  its  printing-press, 
type  and  papers  seized.    O'Leary,  Luby,  Kickham  and  O'Don- 
avan  Eossa  were  arrested,  and  so  were  many  others  through 
the  country  towns;  and  special  commissions  were  set  up  both 
in  Dublin  "and  C'ork  for  the  trials.     O'Donavan  Eossa,  having 
been  already  concerned  with  the  Phoenix  Society,  was  sen- 
tenced to  penal  servitude  for  life;  O'Leary,  Luby  and  Kickham 
to  twentv  vears,  and  others  to  shorter  terms  of  imprisonment. 
Stephens  evaded  arrest  until  November,  and  a  few  nights  after 
being  lodged  in  Eichmond  prison,  he  made  good  his  escape. 
The  fact  was  that  some  of  the  prison  warders  were  Fenians, 
and  it  was  these  who  opened  the  prison  door  for  their  chief. 

Dislocation  of  Fenian  plans  necessarily  followed  the  arrest 
of  the  Fenian  leaders.  Stephens  reached  America  only  to  find 
his  followers  suspicious  and  distrustful,  and  in  1866  a  section 


JOHN  F.  O'CONNOR  181 

of  them,  repudiating  both  him  and  O'Mahoney,  crossed  tlie 
frontier  into  Canada,  and  attacked  England  on  American  soil. 
During  the  war  promises  of  help  had  been  made  to  them  by 
the  United  States,  angry  with  England  for  her  sympathy  with 
the  Southern  States.  But  these  promises  were  easily  forgotten; 
the  laws  of  neutrality  were  enforced,  and  the  thousands  of  Fen- 
ians hurrying  to  the  frontier  were  turned  back  by  American 
arms.  The  small  Fenian  force  which  crossed  were  soon  over- 
powered by  superior  numbers,  and  England  rejoiced  that  all 
danger  was  passed.  Not,  yet,  however,  for  Stephens  announced 
that  the  blow  would  be  struck  in  Ireland  itself,  and  during  the 
year  1866.       . 

But  Stephens  never  came,  and  his  disgusted  followers  de- 
posed him  and  elected  Colonel  Kelley  their  chief,  and  under  his 
directions  the  insurrection  broke  out  in  Ireland  on  the  5th  of 
March,  1867.  Some  collisions  with  police  and  soldiers  took 
place  at  Kilmallock,  Tallaght  and  near  Cork,  but  the  rising  had 
no  chance  of  success,  for  the  Government  had  been  forewarned 
and  were  amply  prepared.  Corydon,  a  Fenian  informer  who 
knew  much,  told  all  he  knew,  and  in  consequence  Chester  Castle 
was  saved  from  capture  by  the  Irish  in  England;  General  Mas- 
sy, the  military  commander,  was  arrested  at  Limerick  Junction, 
and  the  officers,  who  had  come  from  America,  in  the  steamer 
Jacknell,  had  no  sooner  landed  than  they  were  made  prisoners. 
A  terrific  snowstorm  which  began  on  the  5th  of  March  was  also 
lielpful,  and  showed,  not  for  the  first  time,  that  the  very  ele- 
ments were  aiding  England. 

Within  the  next  few  months,  jails  were  filled  and  judges 
were  busy  trying  prisoners  and  passing  sentences  on  them.  The 
conduct  of  the  trials  was  much  complained  of,  and  special  re- 
sentment was  shown  towards  Judge  Keogli,  once  a  patriot,  and 
then  a  renegade,  and  now  lecturing  prisoners  on  the  iniquity 
of  rebellion.  In  England  there  was  one  case  which  aroused 
bitter  feelings  in  Ireland.  Colonel  Kelly  and  Captain  Deasy, 
having  escaped  to  England,  were  arrested  at  Manchester  in 
September,  but  a  crowd  of  Fenians  attacked  the  prison  van  car- 
rying them,  and  set  them  free.  In  the  attack  a  policeman.  Ser- 
geant Brett,  lost  his  life,  and  five  men — Allen,  Lark  en,  O'Brien, 
-  0 'Meagher,  Condon  and  Maguire — were  tried  on  the  capital 
charge,  convicted  and  sentenced  to  death.  Maguire,  however, 
was  pardoned,  not  having  been  present  at  all  at  the  attack; 
Condon,  because  he  was  an  American  citizen,  had  his  sentence 
commuted  to  imprisonment  for  life;  the  other  three  were  exe- 
cuted. Certainly  they  had  attacked  the  prison  van,  and  equally 
certain  it  was  that  thev  had  not  committed  murder. 


182  THE  FAMINE  TO   1S70 

But  it  availed  nothing.  England  was  enraged  against  the 
Fenians  and  wonld  not  be  appeased  withont  blood,  and 
thronghout  the  trial  the  animns  of  witnesses,  jury  and  judges 
was  apparent.  As  the  prisoners  stood  in  the  dock,  they  were 
manacled;  and  as  they  stood  on  the  scaffold,  a  huge  crowd 
gathered  to  gloat  over  their  execution.  These  things  moved  the 
whole  Irish  race  to  indignation.  The  Manchester  martyrs  were 
at  once  enrolled  among  the  heroes  who  had  bled  for  Ireland; 
their  cry  of  ''God  save  Ireland"  from  the  dock  was  taken  up 
and  repeated,  and  the  few  stirring  lines  of  T.  D.  Sullivan,  end- 
ing with  the  refrain,  have  since  become  the  National  Anthem. 

Undeterred  by  all  that  had  happened,  a  Fenian  in  London 
named  Barrett  blew  up  a  portion  of  Clerkenwell  prison,  killing 
twelve  persons.  This  was  in  December,  and  in  that  month  and 
in  the  following.  Captain  Mackay,  with  a  few  followers,  made 
several  daring  and  successful  raids  for  arms  in  Cork.  But  he 
was  captured,  convicted  and  sentenced  to  a  term  of  imprison- 
ment; and  from  that  date  no  further  efforts  were  made  by  the 
Fenians,  and  Fenianism  ceased  to  agitate  the  public  mind, 
which  it  had  agitated  so  long. 

But  I  can  not  bring  the  story  of  the  Fenian  insurrection  to 
a  close  before  telling  you  of  its  one  glorious  episode — the  Bat- 
tle of  Eidgeway.  By  the  month  of  May,  1866,  General  Roberts, 
the  American  Fenian  commander,  had  established  a  line  of 
depots  along  the  Canadian  frontier,  and  in  great  part  tilled 
them  with  the  arms  and  material  of  war  sold  to  him  by  the 
United  States  government.  Towards  the  close  of  the  month 
the  various  "circles"  throughout  the  Union  received  the  com- 
mand to  start  their  contingents  for  the  frontier.  Never,  prob- 
ably, in  Irish  history,  was  a  call  to  the  field  more  enthusiastic- 
ally obeyed.  From  every  State  in  the  Union  there  was  a  sim- 
ultaneous movement  northwards  of  bodies  of  Irishmen:  the 
most  intense  excitement  pervading  the  Irish  population  from 
Maine  to  Texas.  At  this  moment,  however,  the  Washington 
government  flung  off  the  mask.  A  vehement  and  bitterly- 
worded  proclamation  as  shameful  as  it  was  treacherous  in  view 
of  the  promises  made  the  Fenian  organization,  called  for  the 
instantaneous  abandonment  of  the  Irish  projects.  A  powerful 
military  force  was  marched  to  the  northern  frontier;  United. 
States  gimboats  were  posted  on  the  lakes  and  on  the  St.  Law- 
rence river;  all  the  arms  and  war  material  of  the  Irish  were 
sought  out,  seized,  and  confiscated,  and  all  the  arriving  con- 
tingents, on  mere  suspicion  of  their  destination,  were  arrested. 

This  course  of  proceeding  fell  like  a  thunderbolt  on  the 
Irish!    It  seemed  impossible  to  credit  its  reality!    Despite  all 


JOHN  F.  O'CONNOR  183 

those  obstacles,  however — a  British  army  on  one  shore,  an 
American  army  on  the  other,  and  hostile  cruisers,  British  and 
American,  guarding  the  waters  between — one  small  battalion 
of  the  Irish  under  Colonel  John  O'Neill  succeeded  in  crossing 
to  the  Canadian  side  on  the  night  of  the  31st  of  May,  1866. 
They  landed  on  British  ground  close  to  Fort  Erie,  whieli  place 
they  at  once  occupied,  hauling  down  the  royal  ensign  of  Eng- 
land, and  hoisting  over  Fort  Erie  in  its  stead,  amidst  a  scene 
of  boundless  enthusiasm  and  joy,  the  Irish  standard  of  green 
and  gold. 

The  news  that  the  Irish  were  across  the  St.  Lawrence — 
that  once  more,  for  the  first  time  for  half  a  century,  the  green 
flag  waved  in  the  broad  sunlight  over  the  serried  lines  of  men 
in  arms  for  ''the  good  old  cause" — sent  the  Irish  millions  in 
the  States  into  wild  excitement.  In  twenty-four  hours  fifty 
thousand  volunteers  offered  for  service,  ready  to  march  at  an 
hour's  notice.  But  the  Washington  government  stopped  all 
action  on  the  i)art  of  the  Irish  organization.  Colonel  Eoberts, 
his  military  chief  officer,  and  other  officials,  were  arrested,  and 
it  soon  became  plain  the  unexpected  intervention  of  the  Ameri- 
can executive  had  utterly  destroyed,  for  the  time,  the  Canadian 
project,  and  saved  to  Great  Britain  her  North  American  col- 
onies. 

Meanwhile  O'Neill  and  his  small  force  were  in  the  enemy's 
country — in  the  midst  of  their  foes.  From  all  parts  of  Canada 
troops  were  hurried  forward  by  rail  to  crush  at  once  by  ovei- 
whelming  force  the  now  isolated  Irish  battalion.  On  the  morn- 
ing of  the  1st  of  June,  1866,  Colonel  Booker,  at  the  head  of  the 
combined  British  force  of  regular  infantry  of  the  line  and 
some  volunteer  regiments,  marched  against  the  invaders.  At 
a  place  called  Limestone  Eidge,  close  by  the  village  of  Ridge- 
way,  the  advance  guard  of  the  British  found  O'Neill  drawn  up 
in  position  ready  for  battle.  The  action  forthwith  commenced. 
The  Irish  skirmishers  appeared  to  fall  back  slowly  before  their 
assailants,  a  circumstance  which  caused  the  Canadian  volunteer 
regiments  to  conclude  hastily  that  the  day  was  going  very  eas- 
ily in  their  favor.  Suddenly,  however,  the  Irish  skirmishers 
halted,  and  the  British,  to  their  dismay,  found  themselves  face 
to  face  with  the  main  force  of  the  Irish,  posted  in  a  position 
which  evidenced  consummate  ability  on  the  part  of  O'Neil. 
Booker  ordered  an  assault  in  full  force  on  the  Irish  position, 
which  was,  however,  disastrously  repulsed.  While  the  British 
commander  was  hesitating  as  to  whether  he  should  renew  the 
battle,  or  wait  reinforcements  reported  to  be  coming  up  from 
Hamilton,  his  deliberations  were  cut  short  by  a  shout  from  the 


184  THE   FAMINE   TO   1S70 

Irish  lines,  and  a  cry  of  alarm  from  his  own — the  Irish  were 
advancing  to  a  charge.  TheV  came  on  with  a  wild  rush  and  a 
ringing  cheer,  bursting  through  the  British  ranks.  There  was 
a  short  but  desperate  struggle,  when  some  one  of  the  Canadian 
officers,  observing  an  Irish  aid-de-camp  galloping  through  a 
wood  close  by,  thought  it  was  a  body  of  Irish  horse,  and  raised 
the  cry  of  '' cavalry!  cavalry!"  Some  of  the  regular  regiments 
made  a  vain  effort  to  form  a  square— a  fatal  blunder,  there  be- 
ing no  cavalry  at  hand;  others,  however,  broke  into  confusion, 
and  took  to  flight,  the  general,  Booker,  it  is  alleged,  being  the 
fleetest  of  the  fugitives.  The  British  rout  soon  became  com- 
plete, the  day  was  hopelessly  lost,  and  the  victorious  Irish,  with 
the  captured  British  standards  in  their  hands,  stood  on  Ridge- 
way  heights  as  proudly  as  their  compeers  at  Fontenoy — "The 
field  was  fought  and  won." 

O'Neill,  on  the  morrow  of  his  victory,  learned  with  poig- 
nant feelings  that  his  supi^orts  and  supplies  had  been  all  cut  off 
by  the  American  gun-boats.  In  his  front  the  enemy  were  con- 
centrating in  thousands.  Behind  him  rolled  the  St.  Lawrence, 
cruised  by  United  States  war  steamers.  He  was  ready  to  fight 
the  British,  but  he  could  not  match  the  combined  powers  of 
Britain  and  America,  He  saw  the  enterprise  was  defeated 
hopelessly,  for  this  time,  by  the  action  of  the  Washington  ex- 
ecutive, and,  feeling  that  he  had  truly  "done  enough  for  valor," 
he  surrendered  to  the  United  State?  naval  commander. 

Judged  by  the  forces  engaged,  Ridgeway  was  an  inconsid- 
erable engagement.  Yet  the  elfect  produced  by  the  news  in 
Canada,  in  the  States,  in  England,  and  of  course,  most  of  all  in 
Ireland,  could  scarcely  have  been  surpassed  by  the  announce- 
ment of  a  second  Fontenoy.  Irish  troops  had  met  the  levies  of 
England  in  pitched  battle  and  defeated  them.  English  colors, 
trophies  of  victory,  were  in  the  hands  of  an  Irish  general.  The 
green  flag  had  come  triumphant  through  the  stonn  of  battle. 
At  home  and  abroad  the  Irish  saw  only  these  facts,  and  these 
appeared  to  be  all-sufficient  for  national  pride.  This  brief  epi- 
sode at  Eidgeway  was  for  the  Fenian  Irish  the  one  gleam  to 
brighten  the  page  of  their  history. 

The  Fenian  Insurrection  failed,  but  it  did  not  fail  utterly. 
Far  from  it !  For  it  left  Ireland  more  thoroughly  aroused,  more 
thoroughly  united,  and  more  firmly  determined  than  ever  be- 
fore to  achieve  her  national  independence — by  constitutional 
means  if  she  can,  by  martial  means  if  she  must.  And  if  Ire- 
land is  now  on  the  eve  of  Home  Rule,  that  glorious  achieve- 
ment is  due  to  this  one  fact — that  Ireland  had  in  ^66  men  so 
brave  and  so  patriotic  that  for  her  they  laughed  to  scorn  the 


JOHN  F.  O'CONNOR  18  5 

terrors  of  a  British  prison  and  a  British  gibbet !  For  the  mem- 
ory of  their  bravery,  of  their  imprisonment  and  of  their  igno- 
minious death  upon  the  scaffold  has  animated  the  Irish  race 
from  the  year  '66  to  this  year  of  our  Lord  1914.  ''God  save 
Ireland!"  prayed  they.  And  from  that  day  to  this,  ''God  save 
Ireland!"  has  been  the  prayer  of  every  Irish  Gael  and  every 
descendant  of  an  Irish  Gael  the  world  over! 

Never  till  the  latest  day 

Shall  the  memory  pass  away 
Of  the  gallant  lives  thus  given  for  our  land; 

But  on  the  cause  must  go 

Through  joy,  or  weal,  or  woe, 
Till  we  make  our  isle  a  nation  free  and  grand. 

"God  save  Ireland!"  say  we  proudly; 

"God  save  Ireland!"  say  we  all: 

"Whether  on  the  scaffold  high 
"Or  on  the  battle-field  we  die, 
"Oh,  what  matter,  when  for  Erin  dear  we  fall!" 


Edward  J.  McMahon 


Edward  J.  McMalion  was  born  in  Fitcliburg,  Mass., 
August  25,  1861,  the  son  of  Edward  McMahon  and  the 
late  Bridget  (O'Keefe)  McMahon.  With  his  parents 
he  came  to  Worcester,  Mass.,  in  1862.  He  attended 
the  Worcester  public  scliools  and  was  graduated  at  the 
AVorcester  Classical  High  School  in  1881.  He  studied 
Jaw  in  the  office  of  Attys.  Verry  &  Gaskill,  and  at  the 
Boston  University  Law  School,  where  he  received  the 
degree  LL.B.,  upon  his  graduation  in  June,  1885.  In 
The  same  month  Mr.  McMahon  was  admitted  to  the 
Massachusetts  Bar,  and  has  been  engaged  in  the  prac- 
tice of  law  in  Worcester  since  that  time. 

Mr.  McMahon  represented  Ward  Five  in  the  Com- 
mon Council  of  the  City  of  Worcester  during  1889, 
1890,  1891  and  1892.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Board 
of  Aldermen  in  1901,  1902  and  1903,  a  member  of  the 
Board  of  Directors  of  the  Worcester  Free  Public 
Library  for  six  years,  1904-1909,  and  was  president  of 
the  board  in  1909.  Mr.  McMahon  was  married  to 
Anastatia  M.  Power  of  Worcester,  October  5,  1904. 


y(7U4-S. 


(y  ^Ci^<>c/a^^ 


®I|^  S^gj^wratirm  nf  3iTlau& 


1S70 — 1914 
BY 


EDWARD   J.    McMAHOX 


111  preceding  lectures  of  this  course,  you  considered  the  his- 
tory of  Ireland  from  the  earliest  times  to  the  year  1870.  You 
heard,  from  the  lips  of  learned  and  eloquent  men,  the  storj'  of 
the  ancient  glory  of  Ireland,  of  her  acceptance  of  the  faith  from 
the  glorious  apostle,  St,  Patrick,  and  of  the  great  part  she  took 
in  the  dissemination  of  Christianity  in  every  part  of  the  world. 
You  heard  of  her  famous  schools  and  universities,  and  of  their 
imperishable  influence  in  the  preservation  of  human  knowledge. 
You  heard  the  story  of  her  great  tragedy,  of  the  wars,  the  per- 
secutions and  confiscations,  that  during  long  centuries  were  in- 
flicted upon  her,  and  of  the  destruction  of  her  kingdoms,  her 
literature  and  her  prosperity.  And  you  heard  too  that,  in  a 
struggle  which  has  lasted  more  than  seven  hundred  years,  Ire- 
land has  preserved  her  ancient  faith  untarnished  and  her  ster- 
ling nationality  unconquered  and  unconquerable. 

This  evening  we  will  turn  back  the  pages  of  the  past  and 
will  concern  ourselves  with  the  history  of  present  day  Ireland, 
A  great  revolution  has  taken  place  in  Ireland  since  1870,  and 
by  means  of  it,  the  Irish  people  have  secured — and  are  now  en- 
joying— greater  economical,  religious  and  political  rights,  than 
they  have  known,  as  a  nation,  for  more  than  300  years.  The 
truth  of  this  proposition  is  apparent  when  we  consider  the  fol- 
lowing facts: 

In  1870  the  people  of  Ireland  neither  owned  the  land  upon 
which  they  lived,  nor  could  they  own  it;  now  they  own  more 
than  half  of  the  land,  and  presently  will  own  every  foot  of  it. 

In  1870,  and  the  years  which  followed,  Ireland  was  the  most 
poverty-stricken  country  in  the  world;  now  she  is  blessed  with 
hope  and  prosperity. 

In  1870  the  Catholic  youth  of  Ireland  were  denied  the 


1S8  THE   REGENERATION   01-    IRELAND 

privilege  of  higher  education;  now  they  possess  a  university. 

In  1870  the  people  of  Ireland  were  governed  by  laws  made 
and  administered  by  British  officials;  now  they  make  a  part  of 
their  own  laws,  and  are  looking  forward,  with  hope  and  con- 
fidence, to  the  establishment  of  absolute  home  rule,  in 
Ireland. 

In  our  discussion  of  this  most  important  chapter  of  Irish 
history,  we  will  divide  the  subject  matter  into  these  three  parts: 
First,  the  deplorable  condition  of  Ireland  in  1870  and  in  the 
years  which  followed;  Second,  the  forces  employed  in  her  strug- 
gle for  existence;  and  Third,  the  great  transformation  that  has 
been  accomplished. 

Ireland  is  about  as  large  in  territory  as  the  State  of  Indi- 
ana. Although  comparatively  small  in  area,  she  is  blessed 
with  an  abundance  and  variety  of  natural  resources.  Her  soil 
is  most  fertile.  Her  mountains  and  hills  are  rich  in  deposits  of 
coal,  iron,  tin,  lead,  copper,  building  stone,  slate  and  beautiful 
marbles.  She  possesses  three  of  the  safest  and  most  commodi- 
ous harbors  in  Europe.  The  Shannon,  247  miles  in  length,  is 
the  largest  river  in  the  British  Islands.  The  water  power  of 
her  rivers  is  capable  of  unlimited  development,  and  these  riv- 
ers, and  her  lakes  and  coast  lines,  afford  most  valuable  fishing 
grounds.  Her  climate  is  delightful,  and  the  beauty  and  grand- 
eur of  her  scenery,  Thackery  says,  "no  pen  can  describe."  And 
what  of  the  men  of  Ireland? 

In  Ireland  you  have  a  race  of  men  proved,  by  the  history  of 
the  world,  to  be  brave  and  able.  Go  through  tlie  world  and  see 
the  industry  and  ability  of  Irishmen.  In  every  country,  but 
their  own,  the  Irish  race  have  been  industrially  successful,  have 
risen  to  the  highest  positions,  and  have  shown  themselves  fitted 
for  the  arts  of  government  and  of  industry. 

Possessing  all  these  advantages,  and  beloved  by  her 
sons  more  than  any  other  nation  on  earth  was  ever  beloved,  by 
every  law  of  nature  and  mankind  Ireland  should  be  populous 
and  prosperous,  and  her  people  happy  and  contented.  Yet,  sad 
to  relate,  we  find  that  Ireland,  during  the  early  years  of  the 
period  we  are  discussing,  was  the  ])oorest  and  most  distressful 
country  in  the  world,  and  that  her  children  were  flying  from  her 
shores  as  though  she  had  been  stricken  by  a  malignant  plague. 
This  deplorable  condition  was  due  solely  to  two  causes;  land- 
lordism and  misgovernment.  Let  us  briefly  consider  these 
twin  evils  which  brought  so  much  misery  upon  the  Irish  peo- 
ple. Years  and  years  ago  Ireland  was  an  industrial  and  a  com- 
mercial nation.  When  the  time  came,  as  it  did,  in  the  early 
part  of  the  eighteenth   century,   that  her  manufactures   and 


EDWARD  J.   McMAHON  189 

commerce  threatened  to  rival  those  of  England,  they  were 
promptly  and  permanently  destroyed  by  acts  of  the  British 
parliament  which  may  be  found  in  the  record.  The  destruc- 
tion of  their  industries  and  trade  compelled  the  Irish  to  look  to 
the  land  as  their  only  means  of  support,  and,  from  that  day  to 
the  present  time,  they  have  remained  substantially  an  agricul- 
tural people. 

It  is  estimated  that  the  lands  of  Ireland  could  support  in 
comfort  a  population  of  ten  million  people.  Now  all  the  land 
in  the  olden  times,  before  the  advent  of  the  English,  was  owned 
and  possessed  absolutely  by  the  people  of  Ireland.  Under  the 
old  Brelion  laws  there  was  a  tribal  system  of  land  ownership 
which  not  only  guaranteed  to  the  tiller  of  the  soil,  the  right  of 
possession,  but  also  secured  for  him  the  fruits  of  his  husbandry. 
With  the  imposition  of  English  dominion  all  this  was  changed. 
During  the  terrible  wars  that  were  waged  by  Henry  VIII,  Eliz- 
abeth, James  I,  Cromwell  and  William  of  Orange,  for  the  sub- 
jugation of  Ireland,  and  the  extermination  of  her  people,  all  of 
the  lands  of  Ireland  were  seized  and  confiscated  and  then  distri- 
buted as  rewards  for  serA^ice  to  the  soldiers  and  favorites  of 
the  several  invaders.  The  old  tribal  form  of  laud-ownership 
was  displaced  by  the  system  of  feudal  tenure  which  England 
imposed  upon  the  country. 

In  plain  words  the  Irish  people  were  robbed  of  their  lands 
and  the  Irish  owners  of  the  land  were  replaced  by  alien  robbers 
who,  in  this  unrighteous  manner,  became  the  progenitors  of  the 
race  of  landlords,  whose-  control  of  the  lands  of  Ireland,  for 
more  than  two  hundred  years,  was  one  of  the  greatest  evils  that 
ever  befel  that  unhappy  country.  The  cruel  exactions  of  these 
landlords  and  the  appalling  misery  inflicted  by  them  upon  the 
prostrate  people  of  Ireland  during  the  two  centuries  preceding 
the  year  1870,  make  some  of  the  blackest  pages  of  Irish  history, 
but  these  are  matters  which  are  not  within  the  sco])e  of  our 
present  inquiry,  and  it  will  suffice  in  dismissing  them  to  quote 
the  unbiased  testimony  of  two  eminent  authorities,  one  a 
Scotchman,  and  the  other  an  Englishman. 

Mr.  T.  W.  Russell,  a  Scotchman  and  a  member  of  the  Brit- 
ish Parliament,  says: 

**  These  years  have  been  dominated  b}^  a  land  system, 
which  can  only  be  described  as  systematized  and  legal  robbery 
of  the  poor.  The  governed  were,  in  the  main  helots  and  slaves; 
the  governors  were,  to  a  large  extent,  callous  and  heartless 
tyrants.  England  had,  unasked  and  unbidden,  taken  over  the 
government  of  Ireland.  Where  the  duty  was  not  shamefully 
neglected,  it  was  exercised  in  the  interests  of  a  class  alone. 


190  THE    REGENERATION   OF    IRELAND 

Until  Mr.  Gladstone  arose,  no  subject  people  had  ever  been 
more  basely  treated  or  neglected  by  a  conqueror." 
And  Mr.  Froude,  the  eminent  historian,  says : 
''In  Ireland  the  proprietor  was  an  alien,  with  the  fortunes 
of  the  residents  upon  his  estates  in  his  hands  and  at  his  mercy. 
He  was  divided  from  them  in  creed  and  language;  he  despised 
them,  as  of  an  inferior  race,  and  he  acknowledged  no  interest 
in  common  with  them.  Had  he  been  allowed  to  trample  on 
them,  and  make  them  his  slaves,  he  would  have  cared  for  them, 
perhaps,  as  he  cared  for  his  horses.  But  their  persons  were 
free,  while  their  farms  and  houses  were  his;  and  thus  his  only 
object  was  to  wring  out  of  them  the  last  penu}*  which  they 
could  pay,  leaving  them  and  their  children  to  a  life  scarcely 
raised  above  the  level  of  their  own  pigs." 

One  of  the  awful  consequences  of  this  pernicious  system, 
was  the  depopulation  of  Ireland  which  took  lolace  during  the 
last  half  of  the  19th  century.  The  population  of  every  other 
civilized  country  in  the  world,  in  that  period,  increased.  In 
Ireland  it  declined.  In  1845  Ireland  had  three  times  as  many 
people  as  Scotland,  and  half  as  many  as  England;  but  in  sixty 
years  Ireland  lost  4,500,000,  and  today  she  has  less  inhabitants 
than  Scotland  and  hardly  a  tenth  of  the  population  of  the  Unit- 
ed Kingdom.  As  I  have  said,  the  people  fled  from  the  land  as 
if  it  were  stricken  with  a  plague.  Is  there  in  the  world  a  ]mY- 
allel  to  that  awful  tragedy?  They  have  gone  from  Ireland  in 
millions  and  with  bitterness  in  their  hearts;  and  liave  carried 
a  sense  of  their  wrongs  into  every  corner  of  the  world.  And 
what  was  the  character  of  that  emigration?  Ninety  per  cent, 
of  those  who  fled  from  Ireland  were  between  the  ages  of  ten 
and  forty-five  years — the  very  life  blood  of  the  nation.  Famine 
and  emigration  had  reduced  the  population  of  Ireland  to  about 
four  and  a  half  millions  in  1870,  the  year  which  begins  the  peri- 
od we  are  now  discussing.  With  this  great  loss  of  population 
came  another  and  perhaps  greater  calamity  to  the  Irish  people. 
"We  have  seen  that  the  destruction  of  their  commerce  and  in- 
dustries obliged  them  to  become  an  agricultural  people;  and  it 
is  well  within  the  mark  to  say  that,  of  the  population  of  four 
and  a  half  millions  in  1870,  three  and  a  half  millions,  or  seven 
ninths  of  the  entire  people,  were  dependent  upon  the  land  for 
their  means  of  existence.  Now  in  the  old  days,  ]u-ior  to  1830, 
the  landlords  permitted  the  people  to  occupy  practically  all  of 
the  fertile  lands  of  Ireland  upon  the  single  condition  that  they 
paid  the  rent.  If  they  did  not,  they  were  evicted;  but,  gener- 
ally speaking,  in  that  time,  if  the  ])oor  Irish  people  were  able 
in  any  way  to  pay  the  rent,  and  all  other  exactions  and  fines 


EDWARD  J.  McMAHON  191 

imposed  upon  them  by  the  landlords,  they  were  permitted  to  re- 
main n23on  their  farms.  In  this  way  most  of  the  farms  in  Ire- 
land were  held  by  the  same  families  for  many  generations. 
The  only  interest  or  sentiment,  however,  that  moved  the  land- 
lord in  his  dealing  with  the  land,  or  with  the  people,  was  the 
commercial  one  of  profit:  and  so,  when  opportnnity  came  to  in- 
crease his  revenue,  by  transforming  the  farm  lands  into  large 
grazing  pastures,  which  he  might  lease  to  English  speculators, 
he  promptly  and  mercilessly  evicted  his  old  Irish  tenants  from 
their  holdings.  Away  back  in  the  early  thirties  the  landlords 
began  to  get  i;id  of  their  tenants.  The  famine  of  '49  gave  great 
impetus  to  the  clearing  out,  and  the  enormous  demand  for  cat- 
tle during  the  Crimean  "War  was  another  thing  that  turned  the 
landlords  toward  grazing  as  more  profitable  than  tenant  farm- 
ing. A  landlord,  instead  of  having  to  collect  rents  from  two 
hundred  or  three  hundred  tenants,  found  he  could  let  the  same 
land  to  half  a  dozen  big  English  grazers.  This  plan  rid  him  of 
a  lot  of  trouble  and  saved  him  the  annoyance  of  constant  agi- 
tation about  excessive  rents.  So  the  people  were  driven  out, 
those  who  could  pay  their  rents  and  those  who  could  not.  The 
houses  and  barns  they  had  built,  where  their  fathers  had  lived 
and  their  children  liad  been  born,  passed  to  the  landlord  abso- 
lutely, and  there  was  no  law  under  which  the  tenant  could  re- 
cover a  penny  for  the  home  stolen  from  him.  A  man's  father 
and  grandfather,  perhaps  reclaimed  the  land  years  and  years 
before,  drained  it,  fenced  it  and  built  the  house  and  barns.  At 
the  command  of  the  landlord  all  the  labor  of  those  many  years 
was  swept  away. 

Houses  and  barns  were  flung  down,  and  the  stones  that  had 
sheltered  families  for  generations,  were  built  into  walls  around 
the  grazing  fields. 

By  means  of  these  wholesale  evictions,  which  continued, 
from  time  to  time  to  the  year  1870,  not  only  the  homes  of  the 
people  were  destroyed,  but  entire  villages  and  districts  were 
obliterated  as  effectually  as  though  they  never  had  existed. 

ATriting  of  this  period  and  of  the  condition  of  Ireland  in 
the  seventies  and  eighties,  T.  P.  O'Connor  says:  ''The  traveller 
can  pass  for  miles,  and  see  a  country  on  which  not  a  single  hu- 
man being  remains:  the  frequent  ruin  speaks  of  a  vanished  pop- 
ulation as  effectually  scattered  as  the  populations  of  those  en- 
tombed cities  in  Italy,  the  ruins  of  which  today,  with  such  com- 
pelling silence,  tell  the  tale  of  tumultuous  life  reduced  to  still- 
ness and  death." 

As  a  result  of  these  great  clearances,  12,000,000  acres,  or 
four-fifths  of  the  lands  of  Ireland,  and  that  the  most  fertile  in 


192  THE    REGENERATION   OF    IRELAND 

the  country,  were  transformed  into  grazing  pastures  for  horses 
and  cattle,  and  the  unfortunate  people,  who  formerly  occupied 
them,  were  compelled  to  find  homes  and  sustenance  upon  the 
3,000,000  acres  of  bog,  mountain  and  waste  land  which  the 
landlords  could  not  otherwise  dispose  of  to  their  advantage. 
The  horrible  inhumanity  of  this  attempted  extermination  of  a 
people  is  not  paralleled  in  the  history  of  any  other  civilized  na- 
tion in  the  world.  Think  of  it  for  a  moment:  3,500,000,  or  sev- 
en-ninths of  all  the  people  of  Ireland,  in  the  closing  half  of  the 
enlightened  nineteenth  century,  were  driven  out  from  four- 
fifths  of  the  land,  which  rightfully  belonged  to  them,  and 
obliged  to  support  themselves,  or  perish,  upon  the  remaining 
one-fifth.  And  that  was  the  condition  of  the  peasantry  of  Ire- 
land ,witli  reference  to  land  holding  in  1870,  and  until  the  peri- 
od of  land  reform,  to  which  presently  we  shall  refer.  Let  us 
now  briefly  consider  the  situation  of  the  tenants  in  their  newly 
acquired  holdings;  and  I  am  now  speaking  of  their  condition 
in  1870  and  the  years  which  immediately  followed.  The  land- 
lord let  the  bare  soil,  perhaps  a  strip  of  bog,  or  a  patch  on  a 
stony  hillside.  The  tenant  then  took  the  bit  of  land  and  erected 
his  little -cabin  on  it.  Before  he  could  raise  a  peck  of  potatoes 
he  had  to  prepare  the  land.  He  had  to  clear  out  the  stones,  dig 
drains  and  build  fences.  It  has  been  truly  said  that  his  first 
three  crops  were  stones.  In  other  words  the  Irish  peasant  had 
to  take  the  raw  materials  and  actually  make  his  farm  with  his 
own  hands,  and  with  the  most  heart-breaking  labor,  meanwhile, 
and  always,  paying  the  rent.  The  tenant  was  never  secure  in 
his  holding.  There  was  always  impending  the  dark,  dread 
shadow  of  rackrenting  and  eviction  before  his  vision.  Each 
landlord  employed  an  agent,  whose  duty  it  was  to  inspect  the 
holdings  from  time  to  time,  estimate  the  improvements  made 
by  the  tenant,  and  then  to  raise  the  rents  accordingly.  If,  for 
instance,  the  tenant  had  agreed  to  pay  $10  a  year  for  his  three 
or  four  acres  of  stony  land,  he  was  told  that,  having  cleared 
and  drained  it,  and  made  the  land  tenantable,  he  would  have  to 
pay  $20.  The  result  was,  of  course,  to  discourage  thrift.  The 
man  who  tried  to  improve  liis  condition  paid  dearly  for  it.  An- 
other form  of  extortion,  employed  by  the  landlords,  was  the 
imposition  of  fines  upon  the  tenants,  and  in  many  cases  these 
were  levied  either  wantonly,  or  for  reasons  that  would  be  called 
ridiculous,  were  it  not  for  the  misery  which  followed  them. 

Tims,  for  example,  certain  tenants  were  obliged  to  perform 
a  number  of  days '  ' '  duty  work ' '  for  the  landlord — for  nothing 
— during  each  year  of  their  holding;  a  tenant,  whose  son  was 
married,  without  consulting  the  landlord's  agent,  was  given  an 


EDWARD  J.   McMAHON  193 

increase  in  his  rent  of  $25;  another  tenant  had  two  sons  mar- 
ried and,  because  he  allowed  them  to  live  in  the  onthonse  at- 
tached to  his  home,  his  rent  was  raised  $50  per  year;  in  one 
town  there  is  a  record  showing  that  twenty  families  in  that 
place  were  fined  in  a  similar  manner  by  the  landlord's  agent  for 
marriages  taking  place  without  his  permission.  And  in  Ire- 
land, in  those  days,  the  landlord  had  a  power  to  enforce  his  ex- 
actions— the  power  of  starvation.  If  the  unfortunate  tenant 
could  not  meet  the  demand  of  the  agent,  no  matter  how  unjust 
that  demand  might  be,  his  little  home  was  surrounded  by  the 
constabulary,  tl^e  crow  bar  brigade  did  its  work  and  the  poor 
tenant,  with  his  wife  and  little  ones,  were  flung  on  the  road- 
side to  starve  and  to  die.  And  even  in  those  cases,  where  the 
tenant,  with  the  assistance  of  occasional  remittances  froin  rela- 
tives in  America,  was  able  to  meet  the  hard  demands  of  the 
agent,  his  lot  was  at  best  a  miserable  and  most  precarious  one. 
Upon  this  point  let  me  quote  the  language  of  the  official  report 
of  the  Department  of  Agriculture: 

' '  The  people  paid  a  rent  for  their  holding  generally  not  be- 
cause of  its  agricultural  value,  but  rather  because  it  was  nec- 
essary to  have  some  home  for  their  family.  In  a  'good  year' 
many  of  the  inhabitants  were  little  more  than  free  from  the 
dread  of  hunger,  whilst  a  bad  year,  arising  from  the  complete 
or  partial  failure  of  their  crops,  produced  a  condition  of  semi- 
starvation." 

Such  was  the  degree  of  serfdom  to  which  the  people  of  Ire- 
land were  reduced,  by  the  iniquitous  system  of  land  tenure 
maintained  in  that  unhappy  country  by  English  laws,  during 
the  first  ten  years  of  the  period  we  are  now  discussing.  So 
much  for  the  land  qeustion. 

Another  great  evil  that  ^weighed  heavily  upon  the  people, 
during  this  period,  was  the*  unjust  and  oppressive  system  of 
government  that  England  imposed  upon  Ireland.  You  have 
heard  the  story  of  the  destruction  of  the  Irish  parliament  in 
1800,  and  of  the  perfidious  means  employed  by  Pitt  and  his 
colleagues  to  accomplish  that  act  of  treachery,  of  which  Glad- 
stone said:  '*I  know  of  no  blacker  or  fouler  transaction  in  the 
history  of  man  than  the  making  of  the  Union  between  England 
and  Ireland."  You  remember,  too,  the  assurances  that  were 
given  to  the  Catholics  of  Ireland,  by  the  British  Ministry,  that 
emancipation  and  perfect  equality  would  be  accorded  them  im- 
mediately upon  the  establishment  of  the  Union;  and  3'ou  know 
how  quickly  these  assurances  were  repudiated.  Catholic  eman- 
cipation did  not  come  till  1829,  and  then  it  was  granted  only  in 
the  presence  of  a  threatened  revolution. 


194  THE    REGENERATION   OF    IRELAND 

It  was  not  until  40  years  later,  in  1869,  that  the  Catholics, 
who  numbered  four-fifths  of  the  population,  were  released  from 
the  burden  of  supporting  the  Protestant  establishment  in  Ire- 
land. While  it  is  true  that,  in  form  and  name,  the  Catholics 
were  granted  emancipation  in  1829,  it  is  no  less  true  that  from 
the  time  of  the  Union  until  the  enactment  of  the  Local  Gov- 
ernment Act  in  1898  to  which  we  shall  refer  later,  the  great 
majority  of  the  people  of  Ireland — more  than  four-fifths  of 
them — had  no  more  effective  influence  in  matters  of  Irish  legis- 
lation than  the  citizens  of  Massachusetts  have  in  the  affairs  of 
Australia.  Think  of  it — the  Irish  people  could  not  construct  a 
road,  build  a  bridge,  erect  a  public  building  or  engage  in  any 
town  or  municipal  enterprise  without  the  sanction  of  the  Brit- 
ish pai'liament.  And  worse  than  that:  in  all  the  years  of  fam- 
ine, of  eviction  and  of  suffering,  through  which  Ireland  passed 
from  1830  to  1881,  the  British  parliament  failed  to  pass  even 
one  act  for  the  substantial  betterment  of  the  peasantry  of  that 
unhappy  country.  During  that  period,  forty-eight  bills,  for  the 
relief  of  the  suffering  tenants,  were  introduced  in  the  imperial 
parliament,  and  every  one  of  them  was  rejected.  In  the  same 
period  of  fifty  years  there  were  enacted  forty-eight  measures 
for  the  coercion  and  oppression  of  the  people.  If  England  has 
failed  to  provide  good  government  for  Ireland,  she  has  not 
failed  to  exact  from  that  poor  country,  by  means  of  imjust  tax- 
ation, an  amount  infuiitely  larger  than  her  proportionate  share, 
of  the  imperial  taxes.  Some  years  ago  the  accusation  was  made 
that  Ireland  was  greatly  overtaxed,  and  that  accusation  became 
so  insistent  that,  in  May,  1894,  a  royal  commission  was  appoint- 
ed by  the  imperial  government  to  investigate  the  matter.  And 
that'  commission  found  and  reported  that  Ireland  was  over- 
taxed to  the  extent  of  nearly  $15,000,000  ^  year,  and  that  that 
had  gone  on  for  half  a  century. 

In  supi^ort  of  this  statement  let  me  quote  from  the  Satur- 
day Eeview  (Unionist)  of  July  25,  1896,  as  follows:  "Ten  out 
of  the  thirteen  commissioners  agree  in  that  we  have  taken 
2,750,000  pounds  a  year  more  from  Ireland  than  Ireland  ought 
to  have  paid.  And  this  fleecing  of  England's  weaker  sister  has 
been  going  on  at  this  rate  for  something  like  half  a  century. 
According"  to  the  finding  of  a  commission,  mainly  composed  of 
Englishmen,  we  owe  Ireland  considerably  over  100,000,000 
pounds  (in  our  monev  about  $500,000,000).  Had  this  sum  been 
left  in  Ireland  to  fructify  it  is  more  than  likely  that  Ireland 
would  never  have  suffered  as  she  did." 

Another  example  of  English  misgovernment  in  Ireland  is 
found  in  the  matter  of  education.     In  preceding  lectures  you 


EDWARD  J.   McMAHON  195 

were  told  of  the  great  schools  and  universities  that  made  Ire- 
land the  seat  of  learning  and  the  home  of  the  scholars  of  Eu- 
rope, during  the  glorious  age  of  her  independence;  and  you 
were  told,  too,  that  the  suppression  of  her  schools,  her  language 
and  her  literature  followed  closely  upon  the  destruction  of  her 
liberty.  It  is  recorded  that  Elizabeth  appointed  commissioners 
to  abolish  the  Irish  schools,  destroy  their  books,  scatter  their 
masters  and  pupils,  and  to  wipe  away  their  remembrance.  From 
that  time  the  way  of  the  Irish  scholar  was  marked  by  outlawry, 
starvation  and  death.  The  education  of  the  youth  of  Ireland 
was  made  a  ^rime.  No  Irishman  was  allowed  to  open  a  public 
school  or  send  his  children  over  the  sea  to  study.  Irish  Catho- 
lics, so  far  as  the  laws  were  concerned,  were  left  for  the  next 
two  centuries  absolutely  illiterate,  or  with  only  such  teaching 
as  the  wandering  hedge  schoolmaster  could  bring  them.  Indeed 
it  was  not  until  1833  that  England  provided  any  sort  of  a  sys- 
tem of  national  education;  and  that  system,  with  some  modifi- 
cations, remained  in  force  until  a  few  years  ago.  Dr.  Whately, 
the  Protestant  archbishop  of  Dublin,  was  the  head  of  the  board 
that  established  the  present  system  of  national  schools  in  Ire- 
land, and  his  avowed  policy  was  to  Anglicize  the  children  in 
the  schools,  to  effect  the  "consolidation,"  as  he  called  it,  of 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland.  This  right  reverend,  but  unpatri- 
otic Irishman,  undertook  to  revise  the  reading  books  used  in 
the  schools.  In  doing  so  he  expunged  such  verses  as  Camp- 
bell's "Downfall  of  Poland,"  and  Scott's  poem  containing  the 
lines : 

"Breathes  there  a  man  with  soul  so  dead 
Who  never  to  himself  hath  said:  — 
This  is  my  own,  my  native  land!" 

and,  in  their  place,  he  inserted  in  the  books  this  effusion  from 
his  own  pen: 

"I  thank  the  goodness  and  the  grace 
That  on  my  birth  have  smiled. 
And  made  me  in  these  Christian  days 
A  happy  English  child. ' ' 

The  tendency  of  the  Board  of  Education  was  to  denation- 
alize the  little  children  of  the  Irish  race.  Irish  history,  Irish 
poetry,  the  Irish  language,  and  indeed  everything  Irish  were 
forbidden  in  the  schools  until  a  few  years  ago,  and  it  was  not 


196  THE    REGENERATION   OF    IRELAND 

until  1908  that  the  Catholics  of  Ireland  were  accorded  the  priv- 
ilege of  University  training. 

Let  me  summarize  what  I  have  said  with  reference  to  the 
misgovernment  of  Ireland  by  England,  from  the  time  of  the 
Union  to  the  beginning  of  the  great  transformation,  that  is 
now  taking  place  in  Great  Britain  and  in  Ireland,  in  the  words 
of  Mr.  Chamberlain,  the  eminent  English  statesman.  Speaking 
at  West  Islington  in  England,  on  June  17,  1885,  Mr.  Chamber- 
lain, in  referring  to  the  existing  system  of  government  in  Ire- 
land, said: 

'*I  do  not  believe  that  the  great  majority  of  Englishmen 
have  the  slightest  conception  of  the  system  under  which  this 
free  nation  attempts  to  rule  a  sister  country.  It  is  a  system 
which  is  founded  on  the  bayonets  of  30,000  soldiers  encamped 
permanently  as  in  a  hostile  country.  It  is  a  system  as  com^ 
pletely  centralized  and  bureaucratic  as  that  with  which  Russia 
governs  Poland,  or  as  that  which  was  common  in  Venice  under 
Austrian  rule.  An  Irishman  at  this  moment  cannot  move  a 
step,  he  cannot  lift  a  finger,  in  any  parochial,  municipal  or  edu- 
cational work,  without  being  confronted,  interfered  with,  con- 
trolled by,  an  English  official  appointed  by  a  foreign  govern- 
ment, and  without  the  shadow  or  shade  of  representative  au- 
thority." 

It  must  appear  conclusively,  from  the  facts  which  I  have 
stated,  and  the  English  authorities  which  I  have  cited,  that  the 
imjust  and  oppressive  systems  of  land  tenure  and  civil  govern- 
ment, that  were  inflicted  by  England  upon  Ireland,  during  the 
early  part  of  the  present  period,  and  for  a  long  time  prior  to 
then,  were  directly  responsible  for  the  miserable  condition  of 
that  unhappy  country,  and  the  prostration  of  her  people.  I 
have  taken  much  of  your  time,  this  evening,  in  the  considera- 
tion of  those  evils  of  landlordism  and  misgovernment,  which 
prevailed,  so  recently  in  Ireland,  in  order  to  show  in  greater 
contrast  the  immeasurable  improvements,  that  already  have 
been  accomplished  in  the  matter  of  land  tenure,  and  the  great 
transformation  that  presently  is  to  be  effected  by  the  estab- 
lishment of  an  Irish  parliament,  for  the  government  of  Ireland. 

The  year  1879  marked  a  crisis  in  the  history  of  Ireland. 
The  potato  crop,  which  may  be  described  as  the  thin  ]3artition 
which  separated  large  masses  of  the  people  from  starvation, 
was  bad  in  the  years  1877-78.  In  1879  two-thirds  of  the  crop 
had  failed  to  come  to  maturity,  and,  in  many  parts  of  the 
country,  had  entirely  disappeared  Thus  Ireland  again  stood 
face  to  face  with  famine.  Everywhere  there  was  distress^  and 
miseiw.    Everywhere  the  landlords  were  demanding  exorbitant 


EDWARD  J.   McMAKON  197 

rent,  and,  failing  to  obtain  it,  were  throwing  the  tenants  upon 
the  roadsides;  and  everywhere,  in  the  minds  of  the  people, 
loomed  up  the  horrible  spectre  of  '46  and  the  desolation  and 
death  that  followed  in  its  wake.  Parliament  was  asked  to  stay 
the  hand  of  the  landlord,  but  parliament  refused  to  interfere. 

Then  began  the  greatest  struggle  in  the  history  of  Ireland. 
It  was  a  struggle  which  involved  the  very  existence  of  the  Irish 
nation,  and  which  finally  was  to  determine  whether  Ireland  was 
to  remain  the  home  of  an  ancient  and  distinguished  race  of 
men,  or  to  be  transformed  into  one  vast  grazing  pasture  for 
cattle.  Standing  upon  a  platform,  erected  upon  the  site  of  the 
cabin,  in  which  he  was  born,  and  from  which  his  father  had 
been  evicted  ^thirty  years  bef  oi'e,  in  the  town  of  Straide,  County 
Mayo,  Michael  Davitt,  one  of  the  purest  Irish  patriots  that  ever 
lived,  denounced  the  oppression  of  his  country  by  England  as 
tyranny,  and  called  upon  the  manhood  of  Ireland  to  enroll 
themselves  under  the  standard  of  the  Land  League  which  he 
had  organized  for  the  defense  of  their  homes  and  their  liberties. 
Davitt 's  sincerity  and  patriotism  aroused  the  people  from  one 
end  of  Ireland  to  the  other,  and,  before  the  close  of  the  year 
1879,  Ireland  was,  for  the  fourth  time  in  the  century,  in  the 
throes  of  revolution.  In  all  history  there  is  no  parallel  to  the 
struggle  which  followed,  or  to  its  outcome. 

The  demands  of  the  Irish  people  may  be  summed  up  in  a 
single  phrase,  the  abolition  of  landlordism  and  the  establish- 
ment of  home  rule.  Opposing  these  demands,  and  insisting 
upon  the  retention  of  their  feudal  rights,  were  the  landlords  of 
Ireland,  and  the  most  powerful  empire  on  earth. 

In  the  presence  of  such  fearful  odds,  well  might  the  friends 
of  Ireland  tremble,  when  they  considered  the  disastrous  effect 
that  was  almost  certain  to  follow  that  unequal  combat.  Cau- 
tious men  reminded  the  people  of  the  sad  catastrophies  of  180.3, 
1848  and  1865,  and  implored  them  to  be  patient,  to  wait,  and 
to  hope  for  better  conditions;  but  the  time  for  patience  and 
waiting  and  hoping  was  gone.  An  outraged  and  a  determined 
people  were  patient,  and  waiting  and  hoping  only  for  the  com- 
ing of  some  man,  of  courage  and  ability,  to  direct  their  organ- 
ization and  to  lead  them  to  victory. 

Then  came  the  hour  and  the  man.  And  that  man  was 
Charles  Stewart  Parnell,  who  was  destined,  in  his  own  short 
life,  to  strike  the  blow  that  caused  the  downfall  of  feudalism  in 
Ireland,  and  to  lay  the  corner  stone  for  the  establishment  of 
Irish  self  government. 

Parnell  in  assuming  his  leadership,  in  a  great  speech,  at 
"Westport,  said  to  the  people  of  Ireland: 


198  THE    REGENERATION    OF    IRELAND 

''Hold  your  harvests — Hold  your  lauds,  aud  remember 
that  God  helps  him  who  helps  himself." 

Hitherto,  wheu  the  laudlords  had  seut  their  process  of 
evictiou,  the  teuaut  had  goue  out  with  wife  aud  childreu  though 
the  wife  aud  childreu  might  be  dyiug,  aud  the  ditch  be  their 
only  refuge.  Here  was  a  uew  and  a  strauge  aud  a  thrilliug  gos- 
l^el;  that  the  farmer  should  staud  by  his  holdiug  aud  his  houie 
aud  refuse  to  perish  at  the  bidding  of  his  oppressor.  This 
memorable  phrase  became  the  war-cry  of  the  uew  Irish  revolu- 
tion, which,  in  a  short  time,  spread  over  every  part  of  Ireland. 
What  were  the  forces  available,  aud  the  methods  employed  by 
Paruell,  in  this  unprecedented  caiiipaign  he  was  about  to  enter 
in  behalf  of  his  countrymen? 

First,  Paruell  had  at  his  back  the  united  support  of  every 
man,  woman  aud  child  in  Ireland,  who  gave  to  him  their  un- 
questioning and  unswerving  allegiance.  To  be  sure  they  were 
without  arms  in  their  hands,  but  that  did  not  matter.  They  were 
told  by  him  to  hold  their  lands,  aud  they  knew  how  to  hold 
them  and  how  to  refuse  payment  of  the  rent.  In  addition  they 
had  indomitable  resolution  in  their  hearts.     That  was  enough. 

Second,  Paruell  had  the  sympathy,  publicly  and  freely  ex- 
pressed, of  the  civilized  world.  One  instance  of  this  took  place 
in  Washington,  D.  C,  on  February  2,  1880,  when,  by  resolution 
of  the  House,  he  was  accorded  the  unusual  honor  of  addressing 
the  representatives  of  the  American  i3eople,  on  the  distress  of 
his  country. 

Third,  Paruell  had,  in  the  Irish  parliamentary  party,  an 
army  made,  disciplined  aud  led  by  an  incomparable  general. 

It  was  of  this  party  that  Gladstone  said:  "Paruell  had  a 
most  efficient  party,  an  extraordinary  party.  I  do  not  say  ex- 
traordinary as  an  opposition,  but  extraordinary  as  a  govern- 
ment. The  absolute  obedience,  the  strict  discipline,  the  military 
discipline,  in  which  he  held  them  was  unlike  anything  I  have 
ever  seen.  They  were  always  there,  they  were  always  ready, 
they  were  always  united,  aud  Paruell  was  supreme  all  the 
time. ' ' 

Now,  keeping  in  mind  that  the  object  of  this  campaign 
was  to  abolish  landlordism  aud  to  secure  self  government,  what 
were  the  methods  employed  by  Paruell  ?  Physical  force  f  No — ■ 
that  door  was  closed  and  to  open  it  meant  the  suicide  of  a  na- 
tion. 

The  methods  used  by  Pamell  were  unicpie,  and  unparalleled 
in  the  history  of  political  warfare,  and  may  be  stated  in  two 
words,  Abste'ution  and  Obstruction.  Paruell  believed  that  if 
he  could  compel  England  to  give  her  attention  to  Ireland,  and 


EDWARD  J.   McMAHON  193 

to  nothing  else,  lie  would  succeed,  and  he  proposed  to  do  this 
by  the  forces  of  abstention  and  obstruction.  Abstention  meant 
passive  resistance.  It  meant  that  the  tenants  should  keep  a 
firm  grip  on  their  holdings,  and  that  landlords,  who  evicted 
them,  and  land-grabbers,  who  took  their  farms,  should  be  let 
alone.  And  what  an  awful  significance  was  attached  in  Par- 
nell's  time,  in  those  simple  words,  "let  him  alone.".  Speaking 
at  a  mass  meeting  in  Ennis,  on  September  19,  1880,  Parnell 
said  to  the  people:  "When  a  man  takes  a  farm  from  which 
another  has  been  evicted,  you  must  show  him  on  the  roadside 
when  you  meet  him,  you  must  show  him  in  the  streets  of  the 
town,  you  must  show  him  at  the  shop  counter,  you  must  show 
him  in  the  faif  and  in  the  market  place,  by  leaving  him  severely 
alone,  by  isolating  him  from  his  kind  as  if  he  was  a  leper  of  old 
— you  must  show  him  your  detestation  of  the  crime  he  has  com- 
mitted, and  you  may  depend  upon  it  that  there  will  be  no  man 
so  full  of  avarice,,  so  lost  to  shame,  as  to  dare  the  public  opinion 
of  all  right  thinking  men,  and  to  transgress  your  unwritten 
code  of  laws."  From  this  time  the  doctrine  of  boycotting,  as  it 
afterwards  came  to  be  called,  from  the  name  of  a  land  agent, 
Captain  Boycott,  was  accepted  with  popular  enthusiasm,  and 
measured  out  freely,  by  the  people,  to  the  offending  landlord 
and  land  grabber.  Without  threat  or  violence,  without  doing 
the  slightest  injury  to  any  of  his  legal  rights,  they  left  him  in 
such  absolute  isolation  that  the  fate  of  the  leper  was  happiness, 
compared  with  his.    He  was  "let  alone." 

Social  ostracism  or  boycotting,  as  it  was  called  in  land 
league  days,  did  not  originate  in  Ireland.  It  has  been  resorted 
to  in  divers  forms  and  innumerable  causes  in  all  civilized  coun- 
tries. As  far  back  as  the  month  of  March,  1770,  it  was  re- 
morselessly used  by  the  people  of  the  colony  of  Massachusetts, 
in  the  case  of  traders  who  persisted  in  importing  tea  from  Eng- 
land, against  the  protest  of  the  colonists.  Various  instances  of 
this  form  of  boycotting  are  reported  in  the  "Boston  Gazette 
and  Country  Journal"  of  Monday,  March  12,  1770. 

In  marked  contrast  with  the  passive  character  of  absten- 
tion, Parnell's  policy  of  obstruction  was  full  of  dramatic  action. 
It  was  outlined  in  his  declaration  that,  so  long  as  England  re- 
fused to  allow  Ireland  to  have  a  parliament  of  her  own,  Irish- 
men must  see  that  parliamentary  government  was  made  im- 
practicable and  impossible  in  England. 

By  means  of  long  speeches,  questions  and  debates,  he  pro- 
posed to  prevent  parliament  doing  any  work,  until  it  consented 
to  listen  to  the  imperative  needs  of  Ireland.  English  statesmen 
for  a  long  time  had  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  Ireland's  claim  for 


200  THE    REGENERATION    OF    IRELAND 

justice,  and  lie  would  make  them  listen.  The  unwritten  laws 
and  traditions  of  the  House  of  Commons  were  all  opposed  to 
this  procedure,  but  Parnell  speedily  found,  in  the  written  rules 
and  orders,  of  the  House,  ample  authority  which  permitted  him 
to  obstruct  public  business  and  to  bring  the  parliamentary  ma- 
chine to  a  standstill. 

With  this  weapon  at  their  command,  Parnell  and  the  Irish 
party  began  blocking  every  bill  brought  in  by  the  government; 
nothing  was  too  large  or  too  small  a  question  for  discussion. 
Night  after  night  they  talked,  and  talked  by  the  hour,  upon  ev- 
ery subject  that  arose.  On  one  memorable  night,  Mr.  Joseph 
Bigger,  a  member  from  Cavan,  talked  four  hours.  In  describ- 
ing this  event  Mr.  Redmond,  the  present  leader  of  the  Irish 
party,  says:  ''At  first,  members  indulged  in  the  usual  inter- 
ruptions, and  seeing  that  Mr.  Bigger  rather  welcomed  them  as 
affording  him  a  pleasant  rest,  they  adopted  another  plan  to 
discourage  him  and  left  the  house  in  a  body.  Looking  in  an 
hour  later,  they  found  him  still  on  his  legs,  reading  long  ex- 
tracts from  blue  books  to  em]3ty  benches.  An  hour  later  he 
was  still  talking.  x\fter  a  while  the  Speaker  of  the  House  at- 
tempted to  cut  him  short.  There  is  a  rule  that  every  member 
must  make  himself  audible  to  the  chair,  and  Mr.  Bigger 's  voice 
had  grown  weak  and  husky.  'The  Honorable  Member  is  not 
making  himself  audible  to  the  chair,'  said  the  Speaker.  'That 
is  because  I  am  too  far  away  from  you,  sir,'  said  Mr.  Bigger, 
who  immediately  gathered  his  books  and  papers,  walked  sol- 
emnly up  the  floor  of  the  House  and  took  a  position  within  a 
yard  of  the  chair.  'As  you  have  not  heard  me,  Mr.  Speaker,' 
said  Mr.  Bigger,  'I  will  begin  all  over  again,'  "  Time  and 
time  again,  Mr.  Parnell,  Mr.  Bigger  and  other  members  of  the 
Irish  party  were  suspended"  and  removed  from  the  floor  of  the 
House.  Their  places  were  taken  by  others  who  talked  and  de- 
bated and  questioned,  till  the  night  was  gone,  and  no  business 
could  be  done.  In  this  way  the  dignified  House  of  Commons 
soon  became  a  place  of  unbroken  turbulence  and  disorder.  Dur- 
ing this  period  of  obstruction,  Parnell  was  the  most  hated  man 
in  England,  ^^"lienever  he  arose  to  address  the  House  he  was 
greeted  with  howls  and  roars  of  execration  from  exasperated 
members.  In  the  press  and  on  the  streets,  he  was  denounced 
as  a  tyrant,  a  dictator  and  a  traitor.  And  yet,  only  a  few  years 
were  "to  pass,  and  this  same  Parnell  was  to  be  proclaimed  the 
most  popular  man  in  London,  by  those  same  Englishmen,  in  the 
press,  upon  the  highways,  and  upon  the  floor  of  the  House  of 
Commons.  Let  us  anticipate  a  little,  at  this  point,  to  tell  this 
story,  in  the  words  of  Mr.  Redmond : 


EDWARD  J.   McMAHON  201 

' '  It  was  on  the  first  of  March,  1889.  The  conspiracy  of  the 
London  Times  and  Piggott,  the  Irish  forger,  to  rnin  Parnell  by 
means  of  forged  letters  implicating  him"  in  the  Phoenix  Park 
mm-der  had  just  broken  down.  For  many  months  this  terrible 
accusation,  made  with  all  the  autliority  of  the  greatest  news- 
paper in  England,  had  hung  over  Mr.  Parnell's  head.  The 
most  skilled  experts  in  handwriting  had  sworn  positively  that 
his  was  the  hand  which  had  penned  the  damning  letters.  Belief 
in  his  guilt  was  almost  universal  in  England,  and  now  suddenly 
the  forger  had  the  truth  wrung  from  his  li])s,  in  the  witness 
chair,  and  had  fled  the  country  to  find  a  few  hours  afterwards 
an  end  to  his  miserable  life  by  suicide.  The  reaction  in  Mr. 
Parnell's  favor  was  instantaneous  and  complete.  On  leaving 
the  cramped  and  clammy  room  in  the  Law  Courts,  where  the 
long  hearings  had  been  held,  he  was  escorted  through  the 
streets  of  London  by  cheering  thousands  of  Englishmen,  and, 
on  his  arrival  at  the  House  of  Commons,  he  was  cheered  and 
cheered  again,  in  the  lobb-y  and  upon  the  floor  of  the  House,  by 
Englishmen  of  every  political  persuasion." 

Time  will  not  permit  us  to  dwell  further  upon  the  story  of 
the  battles  and  clashes  and  conflicts  that  took  place  between  the 
forces  of  constituted  authority  and  the  forces  of  Parnell,  in  Ire- 
land and  upon  the  floor  of  the  House  of  Commons,  during  the 
early  years  of  this  great  revolutionary  period.  It  is  enough 
that  in  the  year  1881,  Gladstone,  the  prime  minister  of  England, 
and  the  first  statesman  of  the  world  in  his  time,  generously 
acknowledged  the  justice  of  the  demands  of  Ireland,  and  not 
only  brought  to  the  aid  of  the  Irish  cause  the  weight  of  his 
own  magnificent  ability,  but  also  secured  for  it  the  enduring 
sympathy  and  support  of  the  newly  enlightened  democracy  of 
England.  Neither  have  we  the  time  this  evening  to  pay  ade- 
quate tribute  to  the  sublime  genius  of  that  brilliant  young  lead- 
er of  the  Irish  people,  Charles  Stewart  Parnell,  whose  love  for 
his  country,  whose  sacrifices  in  her  behalf  and  whose  incom- 
parable leadership  in  her  battles  have  secured  for  him  the 
everlasting  gratitude  of  liis  countrymen  and  an  imperishable 
place  among  the  national  heroes  of  his  country. 

The  regeneration  of  Ireland  began  with  the  enactment  of 
Gladstone's  celebrated  land  act  of  1881,  which  completely  revo- 
lutionized the  system  of  land  tenure  upheld  in  Ireland  for  over 
two  hundred  years.  But  the  land  act  of  1881  did  not  settle  the 
Irish  question.  The  struggle,  for  the  reformation  of  the  laud 
laws  and  the  government  of  Ireland,  was  to  go  on  for  more  than 
thirty  years.  Victory  after  victory  was  to  be  won.  Parnell  and 
Gladstone  were  to  pass  away,  but  Ireland's  progress  was  not  to 


202  THE    REGENERATION   OF    IRELAND 

be  halted.  And  now  the  master  statesmen,  who  are  leading,  re- 
spectively, the  forces  of  Ireland,  and  of  England,  to  a  trinmph- 
ant  conchision  of  this  most  remarkable  revolution,  are  John  E. 
Redmond,  the  wise,  eloquent  and  fearless  chairman  of  the  Irish 
parliamentary  party,  and  Mr.  Asquith,  the  Prime  Minister  of 
England,  who  has  staked  his  political  career  upon  the  question 
of  the  establishment  of  the  nationhood  of  Ireland.  Let  us  now 
survey  the  victories  that  have  been  won  for  Ireland,  b}^  the 
Irish  Parliamentary  party,  during  the  past  thirty  years,  and 
the  prospects  for  the  future. 

In  the  first  place,  landlordism  has  been  abolished  forever 
in  Ireland;  rackrenting,  eviction  and  extermination  are  gone, 
gone  never  to  come  back  to  Ireland;  the  evicted  tenants,  who 
have  survived  the  battle,  have  been  restored  to  their  home- 
steads; by  virtue  of  the  various  land  purchase  acts,  England 
has  loaned  the  imperial  credit,  to  the  amount  of  one  billion  dol- 
lars, to  the  farmers  of  Ireland,  for  the  purchase  by  them  of  the 
lands  of  Ireland;  more  than  half  the  soil  of  Ireland,  formerly 
held  by  750  Irish  landlords,  has  already  passed  into  the  absolute 
ownership  of  more  than  300,000  Irish  peasant  proprietors,  and 
the  purchase  of  the  remaining  part  ha'^been  made  possible; 
tenants  in  towns  and  cities  have  been  given  the  right  by  law 
to  compensation  for  good  will  and  betterment,  a  privilege  not 
known  in  the  United  States;  nearly  100,000  modern  cottages, 
which  rent  for  a  shilling  a  week,  have  been  erected  for  the  use 
of  agricultural  laborers;  three  and  one-half  million  dollars  are 
distributed  each  year  to  the  dependent  old  people  of  Ireland,  in 
the  form  of  old  age  pensions;  great  improvements  have  been 
made  in  the  educational  system,  the  Gaelic  language  and  Irish 
history  are  now  taught  in  the  elementary  schools,  and  there 
has  been  established  a  national  university  for  the  higher  educa- 
tion of  the  Catholic  youth  of  the  country;  and,  since  the  Local 
Government  Act  of  1898,  all  the  powers  of  local  government,  in 
district,  urban,  and  county  affairs,  have  been  vested  in  the 
Irish  people.    This  Act  of  1898  has  made  home  rule  inevitable. 

In  1886,  Gladstone  introduced  his  first  home  rule  bill,  but 
it  was  defeated  in  the  House  of  Commons.  In  1893  he  intro- 
duced another  home  rule  bill,  and  carried  it  through  the  House 
of  Commons.  It  was  summarily  rejected  by  the  House  of 
Lords. 

There  was  a  general  election  in  December,  1910,  in  which 
the  one  great  issue  was  the  question  of  home  rule,  and  the  ver- 
dict of  the  electorate  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  was  over- 
whelmingly in  favor  of  granting  self  government  to  Ireland. 
The  liberal  party  was  returned  to  power  with  a  combined  ma- 


EDWARD  J.   McMAHON  20  3- 

jority  of  1:24.    After  this  magnificent  endorsement  of  Ireland's 
demand,  there  remained  but  one  obstacle,  in  the  British  gov- 
ernment, to  the  granting  of  home  rule.     The  House  of  Lords 
has  opposed  every  measure  of  relief  for  the  benefit  of  the  people 
of  Ireland,  that  has  been  introduced,  in  Parliament,  during  the 
past  century.    It  killed  the  home  rule  bill  in  1893  without  the 
slightest  consideration,  and,  so  long  as  it  retained  its  power  of 
veto,  the  cause  of  home  rule,  in  Ireland,  was  hopeless.     The 
greatest  achievement  of  the  Irish  party — and  indeed  of  any 
political  party  in  the  history  of  England — was  the  amendment 
to  the  English  constitution,  which  was  effected  by  the  ''Parlia- 
ment Act"  of  1911.    B}'  that  act  the  veto  of  the  House  of  Lords 
has  been  abolished,  and  the  power  of  hereditarj^  rule  to  over- 
ride the  will  of  the  people  is  gone  forever.    Now,  under  the  law, 
any  measure,  which  has  passed  the  House  of  Commons  three 
times,  within  two  years  after  its  first  introduction  becomes  a 
law,  notwithstanding  the  opposition  of  the  Lords,  providing  it 
receives  the  royal  assent.     With  the  destruction  of  the  power 
of  the  House  of  Lords,  the  way  was  cleared  for  action,  and  in 
1912,  Mr.  Asquith  introduced  his  now  famous  home  rule  bill, 
which  is  destined  to  give  to  Ireland  the  only  real  measure  of 
national  self-government  she  has  possessed  in  more  than  300 
years.    This  fact  is  apparent  when  we  contrast  the  jurisdiction 
conferred  by  it,  upon  an  Irish  parliament,  with  that  possessed 
by  the  parliaments  of  Ireland,  from  the  time  of  James  I,  1603, 
when  the  English  conquest  of  Ireland  was  completed,  to  the 
time  of  the  LTnion  in  1800,  when  the  parliament  of  Ireland  was 
destroyed.    The  only  power  possessed  by  the  Irish  parliaments, 
from  1603  to  1782,  was  to  record  the  will  of  the  reigning  sover- 
eign, whose  authority  over  every  part  of  Ireland  during  that 
period,  was  substantially  that  of  an  absolute  monarch.     Grat- 
tan's  parliament,  which  lasted  from  1782  till  the  Union  in  1800, 
is  sometimes  referred  to  as  an  independent  parliament.     It  is 
true  that  Grattan's  parliament  did  great  things  for  Ireland, 
but  it  was  independent  only  in  theory.    In  fact  and  in  practice 
it  was  dependent  and  impotent.     Xo  measure  passed  by  that 
parliament  could  become  a  law  until  it  had  passed  King  and 
Council  in  England;  and  the  executive  of  Grattan's  parliament 
was  responsible,  not  to  the  parliament  of  Ireland,  but  to  the 
parliament  of  England.     Indeed  Grattan's  parliament  was    in 
no  sense  of  the  word  a  representative  Irish  parliament,  for  the 
reason  that  the  Catholics  of  Ireland,  who  then  numbered  four- 
fifths  of  the  population,  were  not  only  excluded  by  law  from 
membership  in  it,  but  also  were  denied  the  privilege  of  the  fran- 
chise in  parliamentary  elections. 


204  THE    REGENERATION    OF    IRELAND 

And  now  let  us  consider  the  measure  of  national  self-gov- 
'ernment  conferred  ui)on  Ireland  by  the  Asquitli  home  rule  bill. 

In  the  first  place  it  abolishes  the  government  of  Ireland  by 
Dublin  Castle,  and  substitutes  for  that  the  government  of  Ire- 
land by  the  Irish  people.  As  Mr.  Redmond  said,  at  the  national 
convention  in  Dublin  two  years  ago:  "Dublin  Castle,  with  all 
its  evil  and  blood-stained  tradition,  disappears.  That  horrible 
system — anti-Irish,  unrepresentative,  centralized,  bureaucratic, 
which  has  misgoverned,  tortured,  and  ruined  Ireland,  crumples 
instantly  into  dust,  and  a  new  Irish  Executive  will  control  every 
Irish  board  and  every  Irish  department." 

The  home  rule  bill  removes  all  existing  religious  and  polit- 
ical disabilities,  and  provides  for  absolute  freedom  and  equal- 
ity in  the  matter  of  religious  worship.  It  establishes,  for  the 
government  of  Ireland,  an  Irish  parliament  consisting  of  two 
houses,  namely,  the  Irish  Senate,  composed  of  forty  nominated 
senators,  and  an  Irish  House  of  Commons,  comi)osed  of  one 
hundred  and  sixty-four  elected  members.  The  executive  de- 
partment will  consist  of  Irish  ministers,  dependent  upon  the 
confidence  of  the  Irish  House  of  Commons.  The  first  senators 
will  be  nominated  by  the  government  in  power  in  the  British 
parliament,  when  the  bill  is  enacted  into  law,  presumably  the 
,\squitli  government.  Later,  these  senatorial  nominations  will 
<^ome  from  the  Irish  ministers.  Senators  will  hold  office  for 
eight  years.  Members  of  the  Irish  House  of  Commons  will  be 
elected  by  the  Irish  people  and  may  hold  office  for  five  years. 
This  nominated  senate  will  have  no  power  either  to  amend  or 
reject  any  money  bill.  It  may  reject  an  ordinary  bill  twice,  but, 
after  the  second  rejection  of  a  bill,  the  two  houses  will  meet  to- 
gether and  the  bill  will  then  pass  if  it  has  a  majority  in  the 
joint  convention.  The  Irish  parliament  will  have  jurisdiction, 
subject  only  to  certain  matters  which  are  reserved  with  quali- 
fication, of  every  purely  Irish  matter  and  of  all  public  service 
in  connection  with  the  administration  of  the  civil  government 
of  Ireland.  These  departments  will  immediately  come  under 
the  control  of  the  Irish  parliament ;  public  works  and  buildings, 
rates  on  government  property,  railways,  roads  and  bridges,  de- 
partment of  agriculture,  congested  districts  board,  local  govern- 
ment boards,  valuation  office,  law  and  justice  department,  the 
supreme  court,  county  courts,  the  Dublin  metropolitan  police, 
prisons,  reformatory  and  industrial  schools,  education,  univer- 
sities, colleges,  charities,  the  Irish  Postoffice,  and  finally,  in 
the  words  of  the  bill,  "the  Irish  parliament  shall  have  power 
to  make  laws  for  the  peace,  order,  and  good  government  of 
Ireland."     There  are  certain  services  which  are  reserved  for 


EDWARD  J.   McMAHON  20 o 

the  Imperial  Parliament.  ^Most  of  them,  however,  will  come 
under  the  control  of  the  Irish  parliament  within  a  few  years. 
Services  that  are  temporarily  reserved  are: 

(a)  The  general  subject  matter  of  the  acts  relating  to 
land  purchase  in  Ireland,  the  old  age  pension  acts,  the  national 
insurance  act,  and  the  labor  exchange  act.  (b)  The  collection 
of  taxes,  (c)  The  royal  Irish  constabulary,  (d)  Postoffice 
savings  banks.  Trustee  savings  banks  and  Friendly  Societies; 
and  (e)  Public  loans  made  in  Ireland  before  the  passing  of  this 
act. 

Of  these  five  reserved  matters,  the  royal  Irish  constabulary 
will  automatically  become  an  Irish  service  and  will  be  under 
the  control  of  the  Irish  parliament  at  the  end  of  six  years,  and 
each  one  of  the  others,  will  pass  to  the  Irish  parliament  within 
a  short  time,  in  compliance  with  express  provision  for  the 
transfer  of  jurisdiction,  contained  in  the  present  bill.  The  only 
matters,  reserved  exclusively  to  the  imperial  parliament,  are 
matters  directly  affecting  the  Crown,  such  as  the  making  of 
war  and  peace,  the  army  and  navy,  treaties  and  foreign  rela- 
tions, dignities,  coinage,  trademarks,  patents  and  naturaliza- 
tion. For  a  time  the  Imperial  Government  will  collect  all  taxes 
in  Ireland  and  also  all  the  tenant  purchasers  annual  ]:)ayments. 
This  provision  for  the  collection  of  the  taxes  is  required  for  the 
reason  that  the  Imperial  Government  has  loaned  its  credit  to 
the  amount  of  nearly  one  billion  dollars,  to  the  tenant  farmers 
of  Ireland,  for  the  purchase  of  their  farm  lands  from  the  land- 
lords, under  the  various  land  purchase  acts.  If  the  tenant  pur- 
chasers fail  to  make  their  annual  payments,  the  loss  will  be  met 
by  deduction  from  the  tax  revenue,  which  otherwise  would  all 
be  handed  back  to  the  Irish  government. 

After  these  losses  have  been  adjusted — and  it  is  estimated 
that  they  will  be  small  in  number  and  in  amount — every  penny 
of  Irish  taxation,  no  matter  from  what  source  obtained,  direct 
or  indirect,  customs  or  income  tax,  is  to  be  transferred  to  the 
Irish  exchequer  to  be  expended  on  Ireland  by  the  Irish  govern- 
ment. When  land  purchase  agreements  are  com])leted  and 
when  Irish  revenue  exceeds  Irish  expenditure,  the  bill  provides 
a  means  whereby  Ireland  will  collect  her  own  taxes,  and  until 
that  time  comes  Ireland  will  not  be  required  to  make  any  con- 
tribution to  the  imperial  exchequer  for  imperial  expenses.  By 
far  the  most  important  financial  clause  in  the  new  home  rule 
bill  is  that  which  requires  that  England,  in  addition  to  the 
amount  of  Irish  taxes  collected  by  her,  shall  also  pay  over  to 
Ireland  annually,  for  an  indefinite  number  of  years,  a  sum  near- 
ly equal  to  ten  millions  of  dollars,  in  our  money.    And  this  pa}- 


206  THE    REGENERATION   OF    IRELAND 

jnent  is  not  to  be  a  loan  from  England  to  Ireland,  which,  at 
some  future  time,  will  have  to  be  repaid;  neither  is  it  a  gift. 
It  is  an  act  of  justice.    It  is  a  restitution  of  a  small  part  of  the 
one  hundred  and  fifty  million  pounds  which  poor  depressed  Ire- 
land was  overtaxed  by  her  rich  and  prosperous  sister  England 
during  the  fifty  years  preceding  1894,  as  expressly  found  by 
the  royal  commission  in  1895  to  which  we  have  already  referred. 
Such  in  brief  is  a  summary  of  the  home  rule  bill.    It  does 
not  provide,  it  is  true,  for  the  absolute  separation  of  Ireland 
from  England.     No  sane  man  will  contend  that  Ireland  today 
is  in  a  position  to  demand  and  achieve  her  absolute  independ- 
ence against  the  will  of  England.    That  being  the  case  the  ques- 
tion naturally  arises,  is  the  proposed  home  rule  bill  an  accepta- 
ble measure?    Well,  the  best  judges  of  that  are  the  people  to 
l)e  directly  affected  by  it,  not  tlie  Irish  race  in  other  portions  of 
the  world,  but  the  Irish  people  at  home  in  Ireland.    And  what 
do  they  say  about  itf    The  eighty-four  men  who  represent  the 
heart  of  national  Ireland,  in  the  Irish  parliamentary  party, 
voted  unanimously  for  the  acceptance  of  the  bill.    A  convention 
assembled  in  Dublin,  larger  and  more  marvelous  in  its  enthusi- 
asm and  unanimity  than  any  other  assembly  that  ever  came  to- 
gether on  Irish  soil,  having  considered  carefully  and  wisely  the 
conditions  and  circumstances,  in  which  Ireland  is  now  situated, 
declared  that  "the  home  rule  bill  is  acceptable"  and  directed 
its  representatives  to  convex'  that  message  to  the  British  ])ar- 
liament.     On  the  19tli  of  July,  1912,  Mr.  Asquith,  the  Prime 
Minister  of  England,  public  and  officially  visited  Ireland.     In 
Dublin  he  addressed  the  largest  gathering  of  Irish  men  and 
women  that  has  assembled  in  Ireland  since  the  monster  meet- 
ings of  0  'Connell  at  Tara.    This  immense  mass  of  people,  num- 
laering  more  than  100,000,  filled  0 'Connell  Street,  the  broadest 
street  in  Ireland,  from  Parnell  statue  to  Nelson's  Pillar.     In 
that  great  assemblage  were  the  official  representatives  of  every 
town,  city  and  county  in  Ireland,  excepting  only  a  very  small 
part  of  the  country  to  which  we  shall  presently  refer.    In  his 
-speech  Mr.  Asquith  said,  in  plain  and  express  words,  that  Ire- 
land is  a  nation  and  that  as  a  nation,  Ireland  is  entitled  to  the 
inalienable  right   of  self-government,  and    believing  this    he 
solemnly  and  unreservedly  pledged  himself  and  the  great  de- 
mocracy of  England,  which  he  represented,  to  carry  through 
to  a  successful  end  the  home  rule  bill,  for  the  government  of 
Ireland,  which  he  had  presented  to  the  British  parliament. 
This  pronouncement  of  the  Prime  Minister  was  received  with 
the  greatest  enthusiasm.     One  hundred  thousand  hearty  Irish 
welc^omes  and  100,000  lusty  Irish  cheers  proclaimed  to  him  the 


EDWARD  J.   McMAHON  207 

gratitude  of  the  Irish  people  and  the  unanimity  with  which  his 
proposition  for  the  self-government  of  Ireland  was  accepted. 
Since  the  introduction  of  the  home  rule  bill,  and  just  subse- 
quent to  the  Asquith  meeting  in  Dublin,  I  visited  many  parts 
of  Ireland  and  talked  with  many  people,  with  reference  to  this 
great  absorbing  topic  of  the  hour  in  that  country;  and  I  can 
state,  from  personal  observation,  that,  with  the  exception  of  a 
.small  corner  in  the  northeast  portion  of  Ireland,  every  class, 
creed  and  section,  of  the  Irish  people,  are  absolutely  united 
upon  the  acceptance  now  of  the  home  rule  bill. 

The  only  body  of  Irishmen,  in  any  part  of  the  country, 
that  protests  against  the  adoption  of  the  bill,  is  a  band  of  fan- 
atical Orangemen  in  the  north  of  Ireland.  These  Orangemen 
say,  "Ulster  does  not  want,  and  will  not  have,  home  rule,  and, 
if  the  nationalists  succeed  in  obtaining  it,  we  will  fight. ' ' 

A  consideration,  however,  of  the  situation  in  Ulster  will 
prove  that  this  manifesto  of  the  Orangemen  is  essentially  wrong 
in  three  very  important  particulars,  for  it'  will  appear  that  a 
majority  of  the  people  of  Ulster  do  want  home  rule;  that,  when 
liome  rule  comes,  the  Orangemen  must  and  will  accept  it,  and 
that  they  will  not  fight.  Now  what  are  the  facts  about  the  senti- 
ment of  the  Province  of  Ulster  on  the  home  rule  question?  The 
population  of  Ulster  is  very  nearly  eventy  divided  between 
Catholics  and  Protestants.  There  are  no  Catholic  Orangemen. 
All  the  Catholics,  to  a  man,  in  Ulster,  are  home  rulers.  It  is 
estimated  by  Protestant  home  rule  members  of  parliament  from 
Ulster — men  who  knew — that  more  than  ten  per  cent  of  the 
Protestants  of  that  Province  are  home  rulers.  There  are  nine 
counties  in  Ulster.  In  five  of  them — Cavan,  Donegal,  Ferman- 
agh, Monaghan  and  Tyrone — the  Catholics  are  in  a  large  ma- 
jority, and  in  the  remaining  four — Antrim,  Armagh,  Down  and 
Londonderry— the  Catholics  constitute  a  substantial  minority. 
Each  one  of  the  nine  counties  sends  at  least  one  home  rule  mem- 
T3er  to  parliament,  and  of  the  thirty-three  members,  to  which 
Ulster  is  entitled,  seventeen  are  now  home  rulers  and  sixteen 
are  unionists.  The  most  prosperous  industry  in  Ulster— in  fact 
in  Ireland — and  one  of  the  largest  em])loyers  of  labor  in  the 
whole  United  Kingdom,  is  the  great  shipbuilding  firm  of  Har- 
land  and  Wollf.  This  firm  employs  16,000  workmen  in  Belfast 
and  pays  to  them  $150,000  a  week.  The  head  of  this  great  con- 
cern, which  means  so  much  to  Belfast,  is  Lord  Pirrie.  And  no 
man  in  Ulster  knows  better  than  Lord  Pirrie  the  needs  of  Ire- 
land, and  the  effect  that  home  rule  would  have  u])on  the  social, 
economic  and  political  condition  of  his  country.  There  is  no 
more  ardent  supporter  of  home  rule  in  all  of  Ireland  than  this 


208  THE    REGENERATION   OF    IRELAND 

same  Lord  Pirrie.  Indeed,  it  may  be  said  that  the  present 
home  rule  movement  had  its  birth  in  Ulster,  where  it  was 
brought  into  existence  and  nourished  b}^  those  two  noble  and 
patriotic  Irish  Ulster  Protestants,  Isaac  Butt  and  Joseph  Big- 
ger. And  today  the  principal  city  in  the  Province,  Belfast,  is 
represented  in  parliament  by  that  brilliant  young  leader  of  his 
people,  Joseph  Devlin.  I  submit,  therefore,  that  the  claim  of 
the  Orangement  that  Ulster  is  opposed  to  home  rule,  is  abso- 
lutely wrong  and  without  foundation.  Now  as  to  the  other 
claim  of  the  Orange  forces,  namely,  that,  in  the;  event  of  home 
rule  Ulster  will  fight,  we  will  find  upon  an  inspection  of  the 
record  that  that  claim  is  equally  without  foundation.  "There 
is  no  terror,"  Ulster,  "in  3^our  threats."  Ulster  will  bluster, 
but  Ulster  will  not  fight.  The  same  old  threats  of  civil  war  are 
the  political  stock-in-trade  of  the  Orange  lodges.  There  is 
nothing  novel  about  them.  On  every  occasion,  in  the  past  hun- 
dred years,  when  concession  of  any  sort  was  to  be  given  to  the 
Catholics  of  Ireland,  the  record  shows  that  the  fearless  Orange- 
men were  threatening  to  sacrifice  even  their  lives,  if  necessary, 
in  defense  of  that  noble  principle,  religious  inequality,  in  Ire- 
land. Thus  in  1829,  when  O'Connell  won  his  great  victory  of 
Catholic  emancipation,  there  were  all  sorts  of  declarations  that 
"the  blood  of  the  papists  would  be  shed  like  water,  and  that  the 
Orangemen  would  die  rather  than  consent  to  this  compact  with 
Satan,"  and  one  of  the  leading  Orange  lights  of  the  time  ex- 
pressed himself  upon  the  subject,  in  the  following  choice  quat- 
rain: 

"Surrender! — no,  we  never  will 
While  Brunswickers  have  blood  to  spill; 
Our  cause  is  glorious,  and  for  that  we'll  fight 
For  George's  title  and  for  William's  right." 

Again  in  1868,  when  Gladstone  was  determined  to  ])ut  an 
end  to  that  iniquitous  system  of  tithes,  which  reciuired  the  Cath- 
olics of  Ireland  to  pay  for  the  support  of  the  Protestant  minis- 
try, by  the  disestablishment  of  the  Irish  church,  the  watchful 
warriors  were  awake  and  were  willing  again  to  die,  if  needs  be, 
to  prevent  their  Catholic  fellow  countrymen  from  enjoying  re- 
ligious freedom. 

Listen  to  this  specimen  of  heroism  from  a  speech  delivered 
in  Portadovru  in  May,  1868,  by  Thomas  Ellis:  "We  will  fight- 
hay,  if  needs  be,  we  will  die — die  as  our  fathers  died  before  us, 
as  our  sons  will  die  who  succeed  us.  Yes,  we  will  die;  and  this 
will  be  our  dving  crv — echoed  and  re-echoed  from  earth  to 


:BDWARD  J.  McMAHON  209 

heaven  aud  from  one  end  of  Ulster  to  the  other — No  Popery! 
No  Surrender. ' '  And  in  order  not  to  be  outdone  by  their  brave 
ancestors  of  O'Connell's  time,  one  of  the  patriots,  a  Mr.  Ma^ 
ginnis,  dropped  into  poetry  to  the  extent  of  these  inspiring 
lines : 

''Our  bosoms  we'll  bare  to  the  glaring  strife, 

Our  vows  are  recorded  on  high; 
To  prevail  in  the  cause  is  dearer  than  life, 

Or  crushed  in  its  ruins  to  die." 

i 

AVell,  Catholic  emancipation  became  a  law  in  1829,  and  the 
disestablishment  of  the  Irish  church  was  completed  forty 
years  later,  and  there  was  no  civil  war,  and  it  is  recorded  that 
all  of  these  poor  men,  who  were  so  anxious  to  bare  their  breasts 
and  die  in  the  last  ditch  as  martyrs  in  the  Orange  cause,  were 
hapiuly  content,  in  the  end,  to  forego  that  questionable  priv- 
ilege. 

But  it  would  seem  that  the  fact  that  their  brave  words 
about  fighting  and  dying,  were  spoken  only  in  a  Pickwickian 
sense,  is  not  yet  appreciated  by  some  of  the  present  day  hard 
headed  sons  of  Ulster,  for  we  find  one  of  them  declaring  only 
a  few  months  ago  his  belief  that  his  followers  "would  march 
from  Belfast  to  Cork,  and  take  the  consequences, ' '  and  another 
stating,  at  a  public  meeting,  that  the  Orangemen  ''would  try 
and  fight  their  corner,  and  die  up  against  the  wall  if  necessary." 
It  is  perfectly  obvious  that  all  this  talk  about  fighting  and  dy- 
ing is  the  veriest  nonsense.  Your  boasting  Orangeman  is  not 
going  to  commit  suicide.  But  there  are  others  in  Ulster  who 
are  now  making  a  diifereut  threat.  They  are  saying  that,  in 
the  event  of  the  establishment  of  an  Irish  parliament,  the  Or- 
angemen will  not  recognize  it,  and  will  not  pay  taxes  to,  or  for 
the  new  Irish  government.  A  little  serious  reflection,  however, 
on  their  part  will  forbid  the  execution  of  any  such  ridiculous 
threat.  No  doubt  the  Orangemen  would  joyfully  hurl  defiance  at 
the  Irish  parliament,  and  would  refuse  to  pay  a  penny  into  the 
Irish  treasury,  were  it  not  for  the  simple  reason  that  by  doing 
so  they  would  work  the  immediate  destritction  of  Ulster  pros- 
perity. See  what  would  happen  if  those  people  were  to  refuse 
recognition  of  the  established  government  in  Ireland.  Their 
ports  would  be  closed  to  commerce.  They  could  not  use  the 
mail  service,  for  to  buy  postage  stamps,  from  the  Irish  Post- 
office,  would  be  not  only  to  recognize  that  institution,  but  to 
contribute  to  the  revenue  of  the  Irish  government;  and  the 
same  would  be  true  of  the  telegraph  and  telephone  service,  both 


210  THE    REGENERATION   OF    IRELAND 

of  which  will  be  under  the  control  of  the  Irish  Postoffice.  No 
courts  would  be  open  to  them  for  the  adjustment  of  their  legal 
affairs,  and,  in  addition  to  many  other  sacritiees,  they  would 
have  to  cease  drinking  tea,  coft'ee,  beer  and  spirits,  and  even 
deny  themselves  the  consolation  of  an  occasional  ])ipe  of  to- 
bacco, for  all  of  these  articles  would  be  taxed  by  the  Irish  gov- 
ernment. No,  there  is  no  danger  to  be  apprehended  from  that 
threat. 

The  latest  proposition  for  the  settlement  of  the  Orange 
question  is  that  Ulster  be  set  apart  from  the  rest  of  Ireland, 
that  there  be  a  ]^artition  of  Ireland  and  that,  instead  of  one  na- 
tion, there  shall  be  two  nations  in  Ireland.    This  pro})osal  clear- 
ly indicates  the  extreme  of  Orange  bigotry  and  intolerance.    It 
means  that  Orangemen  would  viciously  destroy  the  entity,  and 
even  the  very  existence  of  Ireland,  rather  than  fraternize  with 
their  Catholic  fellow'-countrymen.     But  the  nationhood  of  Ire- 
land, which  has  existed  for  more  than  3,000  years,  and  which 
has  survived  the  wars,  the  ])ersecutions,  the  famines  and  the 
devastations  of  seven  centuries,  is  not  now  going  to  surrender 
its  ancient  birthright,  and  sink  into  disgraceful  oblivion,  mere- 
ly to  propitiate  the  fanatical  bigotry  of  the  Orangemen  of  Ul- 
ster.   The  reply  of  the  Irish  party  to  all  these  unpatriotic  pro- 
posals was  made  by  Mr.  John  Redmond,  in  his  great  Limerick 
speech,  in  which  he  said,  "This  two  nation  theory  is  to  us  an 
abomination  and  a  blasphemy.    Ulster  is  as  much  a  part  of  Ire- 
land as  Munster.    AVe  know,  in  our  idea  of  the  Irish  nation,  no 
district,    no    county,    no    province,    we    know    no    race,    no 
creed,    no    class.      Ireland    and     all     Ireland     for    the    Irish. 
Ireland  emancipated,  Ireland  united,  Ireland  indivisible — these 
are  our  unchanged  and  unchangeable  ideals — and  let  me  say, 
in  reverence  and  seriousness,  we  ought  reverently  thank  God 
that  we  have  lived  to  see  the  day,  when  those  ideals  are  about 
to  be  realized."    And  the  reply  of  Mr.  Asquith,  the  i>rime  min- 
ister of  England,  was  made  in  these  words,  spoken  by  him  in 
December  last:     "The  government  is  determined  to  give  home 
rule  to  Ireland,  and  is  not  going  to  ])e  frightened  or  stopped  by 
menaces  of  civil  war.    The  home  rule  bill  shall  go  through  as  it 
now  stands."    With  the  exception  of  the  act  for  the  abolition 
of  slavery  in  America,  no  legislative  measure  for  the  relief  of 
an  afflicted  people,  in  modern  history,  has  ever  been  hailed  with 
such  po}:)ular  and  universal  satisfaction,  as  that  accorded  to  the 
home  rule  bill,  which  Mr.  Asquith,  in  obedience  to  the  express 
mandate    of    the    i:)eople    of    Ireland,  England.  Scotland  and 
Wales,  introduced  in  the  British  parliament  two  years  ago. 
The  bill  was  passed  for  the  first  time,  in  the  House  of  Commons, 


EDWARD  J.  McMAHON  211 

in  January,  1913.  It  was  rejected  by  the  Lords.  It  was  passed 
for  the  second  time,  in  the  House  of  Commons,  in  June  of  the 
same  year,  and  was  again  rejected  by  the  Lords.  It  will  be 
passed  a  third  time,  in  the  House  of  Commons,  early  in  the 
session,  which  convenes  on  the  tenth  day  of  this  month;  and 
before  the  expiration  of  the  present  year,  despite  the  ravings 
of  Orangemen  and  the  opposition  of  Lords,  an  Irish  parliament, 
for  the  government  of  Ireland,  by  Irishmen,  will  be  established 
in  the  capital  city  of  Ireland. 

A  single  word,  and  I  am  done. 

What  effect,  you  may  ask,  have  aU  these  land  and  govern- 
mental reforms  produced  in  Ireland! 

My  friends,  I  can  assure  you  that  already  they  have 
brought  a  greater  degree  of  prosperity  to  Ireland  than  she  has 
known  in  a  century.  Go  where  you  will  today  in  Ireland,  make 
any  sort  of  an  investigation  you  desire,  and  everywhere  you 
will  find  evidence  of  the  great  transformation  that  has  taken 
place  in  the  social,  economic,  and  political  condition  of  the 
people.  Let  me  submit  two  citations  from  the  latest  official  re- 
port, in  support  of  this  statement. 

For  half  a  century  the  population  of  Ireland  has  been  de- 
creasing at  the  terrible  rate  of  40,000  annually.  Last  year,  for 
the  first  time  in  60  years,  this  awful  drain  upon  the  life  blood 
of  the  country  was  stopped,  and  the  population  showed  an  in- 
crease of  1102.  In  1881  the  number  of  depositors  in  Irish  sav- 
ings banks  was  150,097;  last  year  the  number  was  698,452,  an 
increase  of  nearly  550,000,  In  1881  there  was  deposited  in 
Irish  savings  banks  $19,010,505;  last  year  the  amount  was 
$78,000,000,  an  increase  of  nearly  $60,000,000.  Again,  in  the 
twelve  months  ending  June  30,  1913,  there  was  an  increase  of 
deposits  in  Irish  joint  stock  banks  of  $11,960,000,  and  the  total 
deposits,  in  the  Irish  banks,  was  the  largest  ever  record- 
ed. 

Yes,  my  friends,  the  entire  face  of  the  country  is  being 
changed;  the  wrongs  of  centuries  are  being  righted;  and  today, 
with  her  faith  in  God  unshaken,  and  her  spirit  of  nationality 
unbroken,  Ireland  turns  to  a  future  that  promises  to  keep  her 
children  at  home,  and  to  bring  to  them  and  their  mother- 
land the  blessings  of  continued  peace,  prosperity  and  hap- 
piness. 

And  in  her  hour  of  triumph,  when,  with  her,  the  whole 
world  rejoices,  may  not  we,  the  sons  and  daughters  of  her  ex- 
iled children,  offer  to  the  dear  old  motherland  our  earnest  fe- 
licitations, and  sav  to  her,  in  the  words  of  our  own  immortal 
O'Reillv: 


John  E.  Lynch 


John  E.  Lynch  was  born  in  Worcester,  Mass.,  Feb- 
luary  7,  1863.  Both  parents  were  born  in  Ireland, — his 
father,  Thomas  Lynch,  in  Navan,  Comity  Meath,  and 
his  motlier,  Margaret  (Murray)  Lynch,  in  Dromin, 
County  Louth. 

Mr.  Lynch  completed  the  public  school  course  in 
Worcester,  graduating  from  the  Classical  High  School 
in  1881.  He  then  entered  the  State  Normal  School  in 
Worcester,  from  which  he  graduated  in  1884.  Shortly 
afterward,  he  began  to  teach  in  the  public  schools  of  his 
native  city,  a  vocation  which  he  has  followed  without 
interruption  for  thirty  years.  For  the  past  thirteen 
years  he  has  been  principal  of  the  Woodland-Street 
School,  and  for  eleven  years  of  the  same  period,  a 
supervisor  in  the  schools.  He  has  travelled  extensively 
in  Europe. 

Mr.  Lynch  was  a  trustee  of  the  Worcester  Free 
Public  Library  for  six  years.  He  is  one  of  the  founders 
of  the  American  Irish  Historical  Society,  a  life  member 
of  the  Worcester  Society  of  Antiquity,  a  former  presi- 
dent of  the  Worcester  County  Teachers'  Association, 
an  active  member  and  official  of  the  Massachusetts 
Teachers'  Federation,  and  a  member  of  the  Public 
School  Art  League. 


..^t/lAA^U^ 


®ij^  Jrislj  tn  ttj^  Arts 


-BY- 


JOHN   E.   LYNCH 


Art  in  Ireland  may  be  considered  as  of  two  periods — Chris- 
tian and  pre-Christian. 

The  pre-Christian  art,  developed  in  Ireland  before  the  ad- 
vent of  St.  Patrick  in  the  fifth  century,  may  be  termed  Celtic. 
This  embraces  the  remarkably  skillful  and  artistic  work  in 
bronze,  gold  and  enamel  practiced  in  Ireland,  before  the  com- 
ing of  the  Christian  influence,  and  in  Great  Britain  before  the 
Koman  invasion  and  occupation. 

The  first  three  steps  of  any  civilization  in  the  British  Isles 
concerned  with  art,  originated,  first,  from  the  Iberian  aborig- 
ines in  the  late  stone  or  early  bronze  period;  second,  from  the 
first  Celtic  invaders,  the  Goidels,  in  their  bronze  age ;  and  third, 
from  the  second  Celtic  invaders,  the  Brj^thonic  Celts,  in  their 
iron  age. 

The  Celtic  invasion  of  Ireland  began  probably  as  earlv  as 
2000  B.  C. 

The  earliest  monuments  in  the  British  Isles  that  show  the 
least  trace  of  artistic  or  aesthetic  feeling  is  Stonehenge  in  Sal- 
isbury, England,  during  the  late  stone  age. 

The  polished  stone  age  was  succeeded  bv  that  of  bronze. 
In  the  British  Isles  it  lasted  from  1500  to  about  300  B.  C. 

Art  in  the  British  Isles  during  the  bronze  age  can  best  be 
studied  from  the  examples  in  Ireland,  for  in  that  country  have 
been  found  very  many  of  the  best  examples,  so  large  a  number 
that  it  was  thought  to  be  the  birthplace  of  some  of  the  most 
characteristic  principles  and  designs. 

Celtic  art  in  this  age  is  illustrated  by  numerous  beautiful 
forms  of  objects  of  utility  that  were  capable  of  ornamentation 
and  aesthetic  embellishment.  Among  the  articles  exhibiting 
ornate  motives  were  daggers,  swords,  hatchets,  spears,  shields, 


214  THE   IRISH  IN  THE  ARTS 

bracelets,  helmets,  brooches,  torques,  neck-ornaments  and  the 
like  whose  decorations  of  lines  and  curves  either  engraved  or 
beaten  up  from  behind,  are  marvels  of  beauty.  Relative  to 
these  it  is  said  that  ''many  objects  so  ornamented  are  so  exquis- 
ite in  proportion  and  in  the  rhythm  of  their  lines  that  they  ex- 
emplify in  their  own  system  of  decoration  a  point  beyond  which 
it  could  not  go. "  Exclusively  linear  was  the  decoration  of  these 
things  in  bronze. 

Summing  up  the  decorative  motives  of  Celtic  art  of  the 
Bronze  age  it  is  found  "that  they  may  be  grouped  as  follows: 
Diagonal  lines,  straight  and  curved  lines,  leading  to  various 
combinations  of  the  chevron ;  punched  dots,  the  spiral,  the  loop, 
the  swastika,  the  winding  band,  and  concentric  circles. 

These  jDatterns,  in  combinations  of  dots,  straight  and 
curved  lines  and  the  like  are  found  in  the  numberless  carved 
stones  and  rocks,  tomb  furniture  and  debris  from  inhabited 
sites.  Of  sculptured  stones  Ireland  has  afforded  the  most  im- 
portant examples,  the  most  remarkable  being  those  discovered 
in  the  tumuli  of  county  Meath,  at  New  Grange,  near  Drogheda, 
and  at  Sliath  Na  Calliaghe,  near  Oldcastle. 

The  Iron  age  of  Celtic  art  in  Britain  dates  from  the  third 
century,  B.  C. 

The  decorated  articles  of  this  period  consist  mainly  of 
grave  goods  found  in  burial  mounds  and  tombs;  remains  found 
in  village  or  town  sites,  and  of  objects  casually  lost. 

Nothing  that  gold-workers  have  done  surpasses  the  artistic 
beauty  and  skill  of  execution  of  the  gold  torque  from  Limavady, 
which  is  one  of  the  highly  prized  pieces  of  the  Dublin 
museum. 

During  this  Iron  age  of  Celtic  art,  enamelling  was  practiced 
by  the  workers  in  metal.  The  art,  a  very  ancient  one,  was  high- 
ly developed  among  the  Celts  before  the  coming  of  the  Romans 
to  Britain,  and  carried  to  such  a  degree  of  excellence  that  noth- 
ing quite  equal  to  its  products  has  yet  been  found  in  continental 
Europe.  The  process  was  the  fixing  on  metal  by  heat  of  vitre- 
ous matter,  as  glass  colored  with  metallic  oxides.  Enamelling, 
being  as  it  were  the  handmaid  of  the  metal-workers,  can  best 
be  treated  in  connection  with  the  finest  examples,  which  will  be 
referred  to  later. 

It  was  long  before  Christianity,  which  supplanted  Druid- 
ism,  modified  or  enriched  Irish  art  to  such  a  degree  as  to  im- 
press itself  as  a  distinct  form.  So  persistent  were  the  motives 
and  basic  art  principles  of  pagan  Ireland  that  their  continuity 
as  an  Irish  style  was  not  materially  interrupted  up  to  the  13th 
century.    "The  Christian  art  ideas  wer^  engraved  on  the  pa- 


JOHN  E.  LYNCH  215 

gan  ideals  and  motives;  tliougli  tliey  modified  the  latter  they 
did  not  supersede  them." 

The  arts  in  which  the  Celtic  Christians  of  Ireland  gained 
distinction  were  metal  work,  stone-cutting  or  sculpture,  the 
writing  and  illumination  of  manuscripts,  architecture,  and  that 
art  of  beauty,  feeling,  and  expression,  the  art  of  music. 

In  the  Dublin  Museum  is  to  be  seen  an  excellent  representa- 
tive collection  of  the  metal  work,  Eelative  to  this,  Lovett  says 
that  it  would  be  possible  to  fill  many  pages  with  descriptions  of 
the  beautiful  objects  contained  here  illustrative  of  the  knowl- 
edge, skill,  and  perseverance  put  forth  at  a  time  when  many 
persons  fancy  that  Ireland  was  inhabited  only  by  hordes  of  sav- 
ages, mainly  occupied  vritli  the  slaughter  of  each  other. 

Among  the  most  artistic,  valuable,  and  interesting  speci- 
mens in  this  museum  are  the  Ardagh  chalice,  cross  of  Cong, 
Tara  brooch,  shrine  of  St.  Patrick's  bell,  and  the  Devonshire 
crozier. 

The  value  of  thesei  objects  in  metal  is  not  in  any  case  due 
to  the  intrinsic  value  of  the  material  employed,  but  rather  to 
the  high  degree  of  artistic  skill  and  exquisite  taste  indicated. 
Bronze,  copper,  gold,  and  silver  were  the  materials  employed. 

The  gem  of  the  whole  collection  and  in  many  respects  con- 
sidered by  many  authorities  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and  note- 
worthy art  objects  in  Europe  is  the  Ardagh  chalice. 

It  belongs  to  a  class  of  cups  or  chalices  known  as  the 
''calices  ministrales"  in  use  before  the  tenth  century  by  the 
minor  clergy  and  the  laity  before  the  latter  was  debarred  by 
the  church  from  communion  of  both  kinds,  bread  and  wine. 

Consisting  as  it  does  of  354  pieces  of  gold,  silver,  brass, 
bronze,  copper,  and  lead,  all  put  together  with  the  most  artistic 
ability,  and  showing  a  remarkable  variety  of  Celtic  ornamenta- 
tion, it  forms  a  specimen  of  classic  elegance,  both  in  beauty  of 
design  and  exquisiteness  of  skill,  acknowledged  to  be  one  of  the 
finest  pieces  of  metal  work  Christian  art  has  anywhere  pro- 
duced. 

The  cross  of  Cong  is  regarded  by  some  as  the  supreme  ex- 
pression of  Christian  Celtic  metal  workers.  It  was  designed 
and  executed  for  the  church  of  Tuam  in  the  12th  century  by  or- 
der of  Turlough  O'Connor,  king  of  Connaught,  to  enshrine  a 
portion  of  the  true  cross;  later,  it  was  transferred  to  the  abbey 
of  Cong. 

The  Tara  brooch  was  found  near  Drogheda,  not  far  from 
the  sea,  in  1850.  In  its  execution  it  was  probably  contempor- 
aneous with  the  Ardagh  chalice,  for  they  have  a  similar  devel- 
opment of  the  spiral  design ;  the  same  kind  of  filigree  work ;  the 


216  THE   IRISH   IN   THE   ARTS 

same  tricliinopoli  or  silver  chain  work;  similar  circles  of  amber 
and  translucent  glass,  and  corresponding  enamels,  both  Clois- 
onnes and  Champleves. 

The  Devonshire  crozier,  one  of  the  finest  examples  of  the 
goldsmith's  art,  was  found  early  in  the  19th  century,  in  the  cas- 
tle of  the  duke  of  Devonshire,  Lismore  county,  Waterford. 

The  iron  bell  of  St.  Patrick,  quite  crude  in  style  and  make, 
is  interesting  more  on  account  of  its  association  and  antiquity 
than  its  workmanship.  Having  an  unbroken  traceable  history 
for  1400  years,  it  is  at  once  the  most  authentic  and  the  dearest 
Irish  relic  of  Christian  metal-work  that  has  descended  to  us. 
It  was  used  by  St.  Columba  only  60  years  after  Patrick's  death. 
It  is  probably  one  of  the  many  bells  distributed  by  St.  Pat- 
rick, throughout  the  numerous  oratories.  Smiths,  skilled  in 
shaping,  were  among  those  who  accompanied  him  to  Ireland, 
and  the  bell  probably  represents  one  of  their  productions. 

From  the  10th  to  the  12tli  century  it  was  customary  to  en- 
shrine these  rude  iron  bells,  made  centuries  before,  in  many  in- 
stances, in  cases  made  beautiful  with  gold,  silver,  gems,  and 
enamels,  and  further  enriched  by  intricate  interlaced  patterns. 

Of  this  character  is  the  shrine  of  St.  Patrick's  bell.  On  it 
is  an  Irish  inscription,  which  reads:  "A  prayer  for  Donnell 
O'Lochlain,  through  whom  this  bell  shrine  was  made;  and  for 
Donnell,  the  successor  of  Patrick,  with  whom  it  was  made,  and 
for  Calahan  0  'Mulhollan,  the  keeper  of  the  bell,  and  for  Cudilig 
O'Immainen,  with  his  sons,  who  covered  it." 

The  reverence  of  the  Irish  for  things  that  elevate  is  shown 
not  only  by  their  care  in  preserving  in  shrines,  bells  of  their 
patron  saints,  but  also  by  the  similar  care  for  the  precious  books 
and  manuscripts. 

Book-shrines  or  cumdachs  are  chiefly,  if  not  entirely,  pecu- 
liar to  Ireland. 

The  cumclach  of  Molaise's  gospels,  made  in  the  11th  cen- 
tury, is  the  oldest  one  to  be  seen.  The  case  or  box  has  three 
covers,  the  first  or  inner  one  of  yew  wood,  the  second  or  middle 
one  of  copper  ]:)lated  with  silver,  and  the  third  or  outer  one 
plated  with  gold. 

Relative  to  illuminated  manuscripts,  Marcus  Ward  says, 
''To  the  middle  ages — the  fruitful  mother  of  constructive  and 
decorative  art — we  owe,  if  not  the  invention,  at  least  the  cul- 
ture and  development  of  the  art  of  illuminating  manuscripts. 
The  perfection  to  which  it  was  carried  in  those  times,  which  it 
was  so  long  the  fashion  to  misname  the  dark  ages,  excites  the 
astonishment,  not  less  than  the  admiration  of  every  beholder, 
who  is  imbued  with  a  moderate  share  of  artistic  feeling." 


JOHN  E.   LYNCH  217 

"At  a  period,"  says  Westwood,  ''when  the  fine  arts  may 
Ibe  said  to  have  been  almost  extinct  in  Italy  and  other  parts  of 
the  continent,  from  the  fifth  to  the  end  of  the  eighth  century, 
the  art  of  ornamenting  manuscripts  had  obtained  a  perfection 
almost  miraculous  in  Ireland."  The  Irish  monks  in  their  cells 
exquisitely  illuminating  manuscri])ts  are  worthy  prototypes  of 
the  German  monk  of  whom  Longfellow  in  the  Golden  Legend 
presents  a  touching  picture  laboriously  and  reverently  copying 
in  his  Scriptorium  the  Gospel  of  St.  John,  and  beautifully  il- 
luminating it. 

''It  is  growing  dark. 

Yet  one  line  more, 

And  then  my  work  for  today  is  o'er. 

I  come  again  to  the  name  of  the  Lord, 

E're  I  that  awful  name  record. 

That  is  spoken  so  lightly  among  men, 

Let  me  pause  awhile, 

And  wash  my  pen ; 

Pure  from  blemish  and  blot  must  it  be. 

When  I  write  the  word  of  ]\Iystery. 

******* 

Thot  goodly  folio  standing  yonder, 

Without  a  single  blot  or  blunder, 

Would  not  bear  away  the  palm  from  mine, 

If  we  should  comi:)are  them  line  for  line. 

There  now,  is  an  initial  letter, 

St.  Ulrick  himself  never  made  a  better, 

Finished  down  to  the  leaf  and  the  snail, 

Down  to  the  eyes  on  the  peacock's  tail; 

And  now  as  I  turn  the  volume  over, 

And  see  what  lies  between  cover  and  cover, 

What  treasures  of  art  these  pages  hold. 

All  ablaze  with  crimson  and  gold, 

God  forgive  me,  I  seem  to  feel  , 

A  certain  satisfaction  steal 

Into  my  heart  and  into  my  brain. 

As  if  my  talent  had  not  lain 

Wrapped  in  a  napkin,  and  all  in  vain. 

Yes,  I  might  almost  say  to  the  Lord, 

Here  is  a  copy  of  Thy  word 

Written  out  with  much  toil  and  pain; 

Take  it,  O  Lord,  and  let  it  be 

As  something  I  have  done  for  Thee." 


218  THE   IRISH  IN   THE   ARTS 

''In  those  early  ages,"  Says  Wilde,  ''art  had  no  existence 
save  in  nnion  with  religion.  Hnmanity  brought  together  all  its 
most  precions  ointment  to  pour  upon  the  feet  of  Jesus." 

"In  Ireland,  especially — the  Island  of  Saints — whatever 
genius  could  devise  or  the  hand  of  the  artist  execute  was  lav- 
ished upon  some  work  that  would  recall  the  presence  of  God  to 
the  people,  stimulate  His  worship,  or  make  known  His  word: 
the  crosses,  the  shrines,  the  jeweled  cases  for  saints'  relics,  the 
golden  covers  for  the  holy  books.  But  nothing  of  that  period 
has  come  down  to  us  that  shows  a  luxury  in  domestic  life. 

The  Word  of  God  was  shrined  in  gold,  made  rich  with  gems 
and  enamels,  but  the  people  lived  their  old  simple  lives  in  the 
old  rude  huts;  and  even  kings  gave  their  wealth,  not  to  erect 
palaces,  but  to  build  churches,  to  endow  abbeys,  to  help  the 
cause  of  God,  and  speed  holy  men,  who  were  His  ministers,  in 
their  crusade  against  evil,  ignorance  and  darkness. 

It  is  no  idle  boast  to  say  that  from  the  seventh  to  the  tenth 
century,  in  art  and  religion,  the  Irish  were  the  teachers  of 
Europe. ' ' 

No  illuminated  manuscript  of  the  Celtic  school  exists  to 
which  an  earlier  date  than  the  sixth  century  can  safely  be  as- 
signed, but  its  first  beginnings  must  be  put  much  earlier,  for 
by  this  time  we  find  already  a  fully  developed  and  elaborate 
system  of  decoration,  together  with  a  very  high  degree  of  tech- 
nical skill. 

In  Trinity  College  library,  Dublin,  numerous  are  the  rare 
books,  valuable  relics,  and  priceless  manuscripts  "bespeaking 
the  days  when  the  students  of  all  Europe  flocked  to  the  schools 
of  Ireland  for  education. ' ' 

Its  most  precious  book  is  the  Book  of  Kells,  regarded  by 
many  as  the  most  beautiful  of  books. 

It  is  a  product  of  the  age  which  sent  Columba  to  lona, 
Cuthbert  to  England,  and  Columbanus  to  Gaul.  It  is  a  copy  of 
the  Gospels  and  takes  its  name  from  the  fact  that  it  once  be- 
longed to  the  monastery  of  Kells,  in  Meath.  Written  in  the 
sixth  or  seventh  century,  it  is  an  example  of  Irish  illumination 
and  writing  without  a  rival. 

The  work  is  a  copy  in  Latin  of  the  four  Gospels  with  intro- 
ductions of  St.  Jerome,  and  is  written  on  vellum,  forming  a 
volume  twelve  inches  long  and  nine  inches  wide.  It  is  said  to 
be  the  most  remarkable  copy  of  the  four  Gospels  that  exists. 

Of  the  Book  of  Kells,  Bradley  asserts,  that  it  is  the  most 
amazing  specimen  of  penmanship  ever  seen.  It  is  at  once  the 
most  ancient,  the  most  perfect,  and  the  most  precious  example 
of  Celtic  art  in  existence. 


JOHN  E.   LYNCH  21» 

The  Book  of  Durrow  and  the  Book  of  Armagh  keep  dis- 
tinguished company  with  the  Book  of  Kells  in  Trinity  College, 
Dublin,  as  exemplifying  the  finest  in  Celtic  illumination. 

The  Book  of  Armagh  is  of  special  additional  interest  be- 
cause it  is  the  only  copy  of  the  New  Testament  Scriptures  which 
have  come  down  to  us  from  the  ancient  Irish  church.  In  early 
times  Ireland  was  resorted  to  as  a  safe,  peaceable,  and  well- 
furnished  field  for  students  of  religion. 

But  the  numerous  destructive  incursions  of  the  Danes,  and 
the  ordinary  ravages  of  time  depleted  the  large  stock  of  these 
valuable  books  and  manuscripts  to  such  an  extreme  that  of  all 
the  Bibles  produced  not  one  entire  copy  of  the  Old  Testament 
remained,  ancT  of  the  Xew  Testament  copies,  the  Book  of  Ar- 
magh alone  remains. 

The  Book  of  Durrow  is  said  to  have  been  written  by  St. 
Columba  and  is  therefore  of  the  sixth  century.  To  this  indus- 
trious monk  is  credited  the  production  of  more  than  300  copies 
of  the  gospels. 

Among  the  books  of  the  Irish  school  of  illumination  made 
elsewhere  than  in  Ireland  may  be  cited  the  famous  Lindisfarne 
gospels  now  in  the  British  museum. 

Columba 's  zeal  for  spreading  learning  and  his  skill  in  copy- 
ing brought  on  a  quarrel  with  St.  Finnian,  his  teacher  and 
friend.  The  latter  had  a  very  precious  copy  of  the  Psalms 
which  St.  Columba  greatly  wished  to  possess.  This  he  secretly 
copied.  His  right  of  ownership  of  the  copy  was  disputed  by 
St.  Finnian  and  the  king  decided  in  the  latter 's  favor.  This 
brought  on  a  battle  in  which  many  on  both  sides  were  killed.  St. 
Columba  was  full  of  remorse  for  the  misery  he  had  brought  on 
his  dear  land  and  as  a  punishment  and  penance  exiled  himself. 

As  an  exile  from  his  beloved  Erin,  in  his  coracle  he  sailed 
the  rough  seas  and  established  a  monastery  on  the  lonely  Scot- 
tish isle,  lona.  It  became  the  ''Mecca  of  monks"  and  the  mon- 
astic capital  of  Scotland. 

From  the  sixth  to  the  eighth  century  it  was  second  to  none 
in  radiating  civilizing  influences  throughout  Europe.  Of  it, 
says  Dr.  Johnson,  ' '  That  man  is  little  to  be  envied  whose  patri- 
otism would  not  gain  fame  upon  the  plain  of  Marathon,  or  whose 
piety  would  not  grow  warmer  among  the  ruins  of  lona. ' ' 

Columba  was  the  prototype  of  millions  of  exiles  of  after 
ages  who  brought  blessings  to  the  land  of  their  adoption  and 
reflected  honor  and  glory  on  the  green  isle  that  gave  them  birth. 

Many  kings  were  crowned  here  at  lona  on  a  stone  which, 
some  think,  now  forms  a  part  of  the  British  coronation  chair  in 
Westminster  Abbey. 


220  THE   IRISH   IN  THE  ARTS 

The  influence  of  the  British  illuminators  went  side  by  side 
with  religious  education,  not  only  to  Scotland  and  England  but 
to  many  places  on  the  continent. 

In  Irish  sculpture  the  most  important  things  are  the  cross- 
es. Those  who  copied  and  embellished  the  manuscripts  were 
the  originators  of  these  beautiful  designs  of  art  in  stone.  The 
style  of  ornament  corresponds  exactly  with  the  art  of  the  il- 
luminators and  the  metal  workers,  modified,  of  course,  by  the 
difference  in  material.  It  is  noticeable  that  the  motives  are 
'' essentially  Celtic,  depending  always  on  line  and  a  devoted 
search  into  all  its  possibilities." 

There  are  today  in  Ireland  probably  45  high  crosses,  32  of 
which  are  richly  sculptured. 

It  has  been  said  that,  ''Whether  her  monks  reared  lofty 
watchtowers,  erected  churches,  fashioned  jewelled  chalices,  or 
carved  elaborate  crosses  no  effort  was  too  great  and  no  device 
too  intricate.  Even  when  it  was  intended  to  be  merely  an  orna- 
ment, the  sculptors  felt  that  it  would  stand  within  God 's  temple, 
its  arms  outstretched  beneath  the  dome  of  heaven,  with  the  sun, 
moon,  and  stars  for  altar  lights,  and  guarded  by  angelic  hosts." 

Built  between  the  lOtli  and  IStli  centuries  they  may  "be  re- 
garded not  only  as  memorials  of  the  piety  and  munificence  of 
the  founders,  but  also  as  the  finest  works  of  sculptured  art  of 
their  period." 

Undoubtedly  they  are  a  development  of  the  pillar-stones, 
with  their  incised  circle,  the  emblem  of  eternity,  enclosing  the 
cross,  the  symbol  of  Christianity. 

"The  striking  feature  of  these  crosses,"  says  O'Neil,  "is 
the  ornamental  and  pictorial  work  displayed  in  the  carving. 
There  is  a  profusion  of  spiral  pattern,  Celtic  tracery,  and  zoo- 
morphic  design.  The  whole  body  of  Christian  doctrine  finds 
its  expression  in  their  sculpture,  intended  no  doubt  by  means 
of  symbolic  representations  to  be  great  object  lessons  in  the 
way  of  faith  to  every  beholder.  The  central  idea  on  the  face  of 
the  cross  is  usually  the  crucifixion,  and  on  the  back  the  resur- 
rection, or  Christ  in  glory — the  remaining  spaces  on  the  panels 
and  on  the  sides  being  filled  with  various  sacred  and  other 
subjects. ' ' 

Among  the  most  important  of  the  high  crosses  are  St. 
Martin's  cross  of  lona,  the  cross  of  Drumcliffe,  two  at  Monaster- 
boice,  two  at  Clonmacnoise,  and  one  each  at  Durrow  and  Tuam. 

In  respect  to  outline  and  proportions,  St.  Martin's  cross  in 
lona  is  considered  by  some  to  be  the  most  beautiful.  Especially 
is  the  sculpture  on  the  eastern  face  of  a  high  Celtic  order  of  art. 

A' visit  to  Monasterboice  is  most  satisfactorv  to  all  inter- 


JOHN  E.   LYNCH  221 

ested  in  Irish  art,  for  there  can  be  studied  in  position  the  most 
superb  ancient  crosses  that  Ireland  can  show. 

Though  nearly  a  thousand  years  have  passed  since  the 
erection  of  the  crosses,  many  of  their  carvings  are  clear  and 
sharp,  and  so  afford  excellent  subjects  for  study  in  detail. 

Immediately  in  front  of  the  round  tower  is  the  highest  of 
the  crosses,  its  central  shaft  standing  twenty-three  feet  high, 
and  the  cross  arm  over  six  feet  long. 

'^In  architecture,"  says  Armstrong,  '^the  Irish  Celt 
showed  the  same  qualities  as  in  the  other  arts.  His  structures 
are  by  no  means  ambitious,  but  his  designs  never  fail  to  have 
that  appropria'teness  to  material  and  purpose  which  betrays  an 
essentially  artistic  race." 

*'Its  special  excellence  does  not  lie,  as  some  vainly  claim, 
in  antiquity  of  style  superior  to  ancient  architecture  elsewhere, 
but  rather  to  the  fact  that  the  ruins  are  so  numerous  and  in 
such  condition  as  to  enable  one  to  trace  the  development  from 
a  rude  and  crude  beginning  to  a  very  beautiful  result ;  to  follow 
the  gradual  change  of  one  style  into  another  until  the  Irish 
Romanesque  almost  reached  perfection." 

The  first  steps  in  the  development  of  Irish  architecture  can 
best  be  understood  by  a  brief  consideration  of  the  work  of  the 
first  builders,  whose  monuments  still  exist  in  witness  of  their 
work.  Antedating  the  Christian  influence  by  centuries  they 
show  by  numerous  huge  burial  monuments  or  sepulchral  struc- 
tures called  cromlechs  and  dolmens  first  efforts  in  stone  build- 
ing. 

The  dolmen  and  cromlech  builders  of  this  era  attempted  no 
ornament  whatever.  Sometimes  the  dolmens  are  surrounded 
by  circles  of  upright  stones  150  to  160  feet  in  diameter,  thus  re- 
sembling Stonehenge  in  England  and  similar  structures  in  other 
parts  of  Great  Britain  and  Scandinavia. 

Cinerary  urns  and  calcined  bones  found  beneath  the  pon- 
derous stones  indicate  their  use  as  burial  places,  probably  of 
pagan  Celtic  royalty. 

The  Druids  may  have  used  them  later  as  temples,  or  as  al- 
tars for  their  sacred  ceremonies. 

The  tumuli  or  dome-roofed  structures  are  much  in  advance 
of  the  dolmens  and  cromlechs,  for  they  have  incised  decorative 
designs  on  walls  and  roof. 

This  is  evidenced  by  the  carvings  in  the  royal  cemeteries  of 
New  Grange,  Dowth,  Teltown  and  Eathkenny. 

That  at  Xew  Grange  is  a  hill  whose  cairn  of  stones  is  esti- 
mated to  weigh  18,000  tons.  At  one  time  thirty  colossal  stones 
circled  it;  now  remain  but  twelve. 


222  THE   IRISH   IN   THE   ARTS 

On  tlie  huge  stone  that  guarded  this  old  Celtic  pagan  tomb 
are  spirals,  coils  and  diamond  shaped  characters  whose  sig- 
nificance is  unknown,  but  which  remind  one  of  many  of  the  dec- 
orative lines  on  the  metal  art  and  illuminated  manuscripts  of 
later  centuries. 

Ogham  stones  are  found  in  pagan  burial  places  and  in  sub- 
terranean treasure  houses  built  long  before  the  Christian  period. 

The  alphabet  of  the  Ogham  script  consists  of  lines,  short, 
straight,  or  slanting,  drawn  above,  below  or  through  a  stem 
line,  dots  or  -nicks  representing  vowels.  On  stone  monuments 
the  stem  line  is  the  sharp  edge  of  adjacent  faces. 

Their  use  continued  somewhat  on  stones  and  in  manuscripts 
even  after  the  introduction  of  the  Eoman  letters,  and  were  not 
wholly  displaced'  before  the  ninth  century  of  '^nr  era. 

Most  of  the  Ogham  stones  are  found  in  Ireland,  a  very  few 
in  England,  and,  according  to  Prof.  Morley,  they  are  in  their  in- 
scriptions the  first  representations  of  the  earliest  literary  age 
in  the  British  Isles. 

The  rude  pagan  forts  and  dome  roofed  sepulchres  may  be 
regarded  as  the  first  examples  of  Irish  architecture. 

They  were  built  without  cement  and  show  the  same  ignor- 
ance of  the  principle  of  the  arch  common  to  all  primitive  build- 
ers. The  stone  forts  or  duns  are  found  on  the  western  shores 
of  counties  Kerry,  Clare,  Sligo,  Mayo,  Donegal,  and  Antrim. 

"They  belong  to  the  culminating  period  of  the  heroic  legen- 
dary era  immediately  preceding  the  introduction  of  Christian- 
ity, and  are  associated  with  the  adventures  of  Eengus  and  Conor 
and  Muirbheck  Mil,  of  Fergus  and  Cuchulain,  heroes  of  the  Fir- 
bolg  race." 

Many  of  these  pagan  forts  continued  in  use  after  the  in- 
troduction of  Christianity,  but  in  numerous  instances  the  con- 
verted kings  and  chieftains  made  to  God  an  offering  of  their 
duns  or  fortresses  that  the  missionaries  might  erect  within  the 
area  their  little  cells  and  oratories.  Thus  were  developed  the 
first  Irish  ecclesiastical  buildings,  consisting  of  two  or  more 
oratories  serving  as  churches,  beelike  huts  of  the  monks  with 
their  walls,  gardens,  and  burial  grounds,  and  all  surrounded  by 
the  .stone  wall.  To  it  was  given  the  name  cashel  from  the 
Irish  'Vaiseal,"  meaning  round  stone  fort. 

They  became  community  centers.  All  who  professed  the 
Christian  faith  were  there  welcomed,  each  new-comer  building 
his  own  hut,  partook  of  the  life  of  the  place,  and  received  botli 
religious  and  secular  instruction. 

And  thus  arose  those  great  Celtic  monasteries  that  were  in 
realitv  villages,  schools  and  industrial  establishments  united  in 


JOHN  E.   LYNCH  223 

the  worship  of  the  Christian  religion  nnder  the  authority  of 
some  great  saint  or  teacher  like  St.  Columba,  St.  Finnian  of 
Clonard,  and  St.  Ciaran  of  Clonmacnoise. 

The  most  remarkable  of  the  early  Christian  monasteries 
is  that  on  Skellig  Michael  or  the  Great  Skellig,  one  of  the  three 
rocky  islets  in  the  Atlantic  off  the  coast  of  Kerry. 

On  the  north  side  of  Dingle  bay  in  Kerry  is  the  best  isolat- 
■ed  specimen  of  Irish  oratory,  that  of  Gallerns,  in  a  fine  condi- 
tion of  preservation. 

Ancient  oratories  of  this  angular,  oblong  style,  with  walls 
without  cement,  either  sloping  in  a  curve  towards  tlie  roof,  like 
upturned  boats,  or  built  in  steps,  probably  formed  the  begin- 
nings of  later  and  more  advanced  style  of  ecclesiastical  edifice. 

The  next  period  of  Irish  architecture  is  marked  by  a  de- 
cided advance,  the  noteworthy  feature  of  which  is  the  transi- 
tion from  uncemented  walls,  as  seen  in  buildings  of  the  sixth 
to  the  eighth  centuries. 

The  archaic  and  mixed  style  of  the  masonry  is  character- 
istic of  the  structures  of  this  era.  ]\Iassive  dovetailed  stones 
with  ashlar,  and  wide-jointed,  irregular  courses  of  stone,  door- 
ways with  a  great  horizontal  lintel  stone,  inclined  doorways, 
round-headed  east  windows,  a  pointed  arch  scooped  out  or 
formed  by  two  stones  of  a  triangle  are  features  typical  of  these 
buildings. 

The  transition  to  the  true  arch  is  seen  in  such  buildings  as 
the  church  on  Friar's  Island  near  Killaloe,  St.  Columba 's  in 
Xells,  and  St.  Kevin's  in  Glendalough. 

Of  all  places  in  county  AYicklow,  Glendalough  of  the  Seven 
Churches  is  the  most  famous. 

Many  vales  and  glens  are  as  somber  and  weirdly  beautiful, 
but  they  lack  the  historic  interest  and  legendar;^  halo  that  make 
it  dear  to  the  archaelogist,  the  poet,  and  the  dreamer.        • 

St.  Kevin  founded  Glendalough  in  the  10th  century.  Of 
its  numerous  small  churches  and  buildings,  scattered  through- 
out the  valley,  the  round-tower,  St.  Kevin's,  the  Lady  chapel, 
and  the  cathedral  are  the  most  notable. 

The  main  cluster  of  buildings  is  enclosed  by  a  wall  or  cash- 
el  pierced  by  a  fine  old  gateway. 

St.  Kevin's  kitchen  was  so  called  because  of  someone's  ab- 
surd notion  that  the  belfry  was  a  chinmey  originally.  It  once 
consisted  of  a  nave  and  chancel,  a  sacristy  in  the  east  and  a  bel- 
fry in  the  west.  AYith  tlie  introduction  and  development  of  the 
chancel  came  the  use  of  the  true  arch  with  radiating  points. 
Even  after  the  use  of  the  arch  the  doorway  with  horizontal  lin- 
tel continued. 


224  THE   IRISH   IN   THE   ARTS 

After  King  Brian,  at  Clontarf,  liad  won  peace  from  the 
Danes,  who  had  overritn  the  realm,  great  activity  in  building 
and  especially  in  restoring  monasteries  took  place. 

At  this  time  and  during  the  following  two  centuries  may 
be  credited  the  remarkable  round  towers,  half  belfries,  and  half 
fortifications. 

Ferguson  in  his  history  of  architecture  says:  "The  Irish 
built  round  towers  and  oratories  of  a  beauty  of  a  form  and 
with  an  elegance  of  detail  that  charm  even  at  the  present  day." 

"The  pillar  towers  of  Ireland,  how  wondrously  they  stand 

B}^  the  lakes  and  rushing  rivers,  through  the  valleys  of  our 

land ; 
In  mystic  file,  through  the  isle,  they  lift  their  heads  sublime, 
Those  gray  old  pillar  temples,  those  conquerors  of  time." 

The  round  towers  of  Ireland  are  peculiar  and  most  inter- 
esting national  structures,  and  for  3'ears  have  been  an  attract- 
ive subject  of  antiquarian  research. 

Some  have  attributed  them  "to  the  Vikings,  others  to  ad- 
venturers from  the  orient,  while  others  have  looked  upon  them 
as  penitential  homes  of  ascetic  monks." 

More  than  a  hundred  of  these  remarkable  structures  are  to 
be  seen  at  the  present  time,  some  of  them  in  good  condition. 
All  of  them  resemble  each  other  in  plan  and  construction,  local 
peculiarities  or  other  conditions  determining  the  position  of 
the  window.  The  door  was  usually  about  fifteen  feet  from  the 
ground,  and  this  lends  color  to  the  belief  that  they  served  as 
places  of  refuge  in  times  of  danger.  After  entering,  and  re- 
moving the  ladder,  the  defenders  were  practically  unassailable 
by  any  weapons  the  Northmen  possessed. 

"iliese  towers  may  be  divided  into  four  styles :  First,  those 
as  that  at  Swords  or  Scattery  built  of  rough  field  stone,  un- 
touched by  hammer  or  chisel,  the  mortar  being  of  coarse,  un- 
sifted sand;  second,  towers  such  as  that  of  Donoughmore,  Cash- 
el,  or  Monasterboice,  with  stones  roughly  hammer  dressed, 
round  to  the  curve  of  the  wall.  In  these,  mortar  was  freely  used. 
Third,  those  in  which  the  stones  were  laid  in  horizontal  cours- 
es, as  that  at  Glendalough  or  Devenish.  The  stones  were  well 
dressed  and  were  cemented  in  strong  plain  mortar  of  lime  and 
sand.  Fourth,  those  made  of  strong,  rough,  but  excellent  ash- 
lar masonry,  rather  open  jointed  and  so  resembling  closely  the 
English-Xorman  masonry  of  the  early  part  of  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury. The  Aghadoe,  Kells,  and  Ardmore  towers  are  good  exam- 
ples. 


JOHN  E.   LYNCH  225 

The  towers  are  divided  into  stories  generally  by  floors  of 
wood,  but  in  some  instances  by  masonry.  Numerous  and  varied 
purposes  have  been  advanced  by  different  authorities  as  to  their 
origin  and  use. 

' '  First :  That  the  Phoenicians  erected  them  for  fire  temples. 

Second:  That  the  Druids  used  them  as  places  from  which 
to  proclaim  the  druidical  festivals. 

Third:   That  they  were  for  astronomical  purposes. 

Fourth:  That  they  were  Phallic  emblems  or  Buddhist  tem- 
ples. 

Fifth:  That  they  were  for  good  people  to  shut  themselves 
up  in  for  meditation  and  prayer. 

Sixth:  That  they  were  for  bad  people  to  be. shut  up  in  un- 
til they  became  good. 

Seventh:    That  they ^ were  belfries. 

Eighth:  That  they  were  keeps  or  monastic  castles  for  the 
safe  keeping  of  the  treasure  of  the  monasteries. 

Ninth:   That  they  were  beacons  or  watch  towers. 

Tenth:  That  they  were  used  for  defense  against  the  Norse 
pirates.  An  additional  reason  has  been  given,  namely,  that 
they  were  built  by  the  ancients  to  puzzle  the  moderns. ' ' 

In  the  opinion  of  most  scholars,  Dr.  Petrie  has  settled  once 
and  for  all  this  most  controverted  point  in  Irish  archaeology 
as  to  the  origin  and  use  of  the  round  towers. 

He  maintains  that  they  were  watch  towers,  belfries,  and 
places  of  refuge  into  which  the  monks  and  all  connected  with 
the  monastery  could  retire  with  their  valuables  in  times  of  dan- 
ger. 

The  towers  vary  in  height  from  sixty  to  one  hundred  feet, 
and  in  diameter  at  the  base  from  nine  to  thirty  feet. 

Especially  graceful  and  pleasing  in  their  outline,  they  give 
to  the  landscape  a  charm  which  is  unique. 

In  most  examx)les  the  tower  stands  erect  beside  the  ruins 
of  an  ancient,  but  deserted,  church,  and  among  the  smoldering 
tombstones  of  a  neglected  or  desecrated  graveyard. 

The  round  tower  period  of  building  from  890  A.  D.  to  1238 
was  identical  with  the  period  of  the  three  steps  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  Romanesque  form. 

Two  great  systems  of  architecture  show  the  growth  of  the 
Romanesque.  The  Greek  and  Roman  based  their  principles  of 
construction,  the  one  on  the  column  and  the  entablature,  the 
other  on  the  arch  and  the  vault.  Apparently  it  is  the  blending 
of  the  entablature  of  the  Greeks  with  the  rounded  arch  of  the 
Romans  that  gave  rise  to  the  buildings  in  Ireland  that  typify 
the  Irish  Romanesque. 


226  THE   IRISH   IX  THE   ARTS 

The  early  style  of  architecture  characterizing  such  church- 
es as  Maghera,  Banagher  and  Temple  Martin,  had  vigor  enough 
to  modify  the  incoming  Romanesque,  and  to  live  on,  perpet- 
uating in  the  latter  buildings  of  the  lltli  and  12tli  centuries 
enough  basic  Irish  to  distinguish  the  style  from  the  Eomanesque 
of  other  countries. 

And  so  we  see  the  lingering  in  rounded  arch  structures  of 
horizontal  lintels  in  windows  and  doorways;  of  inclined  jambs 
of  the  primitive  doorways;  of  the  rich,  ornamental  designs  of 
the  Celtic  period  that  were  found  there  even  before  the  Roman 
occupation  of  Britain. 

The  beautiful  incised  moldings  of  the  doorway  of  Killeshin 
suggest  the  charm  of  engraving,  so  delicate  are  they. 

Like  a  sentinel  guarding  The  Golden  Vale  of  Tipperary 
rises  the  far-famed  rock  of  Cashel.  Here  in  full  strength  at 
one  time  was  found  the  combination  so  frequently  to  be  seen  in 
Ireland  of  the  castle  and  abbey,  of  military  and  religious  pow- 
er. 

Now  the  ecclesiastical  remains  dominate  the  situation. 
Towers  and  turrets  and  arches  call  attention  to  the  chief  struc- 
tures: the  round  tower,  Cormac's  chapel,  and  the  ruined  cath- 
edral. 

Cormac's  chapel  is  the  real  architectural  gem  of  the  group. 
Begun  by  Cormac  McCarthy,  king  of  Munster,  in  1127,  it  was 
consecrated  in  1134.  The  building,  fifty  feet  by  eighteen  feet,^ 
makes  up  in  chaste  desigTi,  elaborate  carving  and  solidity  of 
structure  what  it  lacks  in  size.  The  north  doorway  is  very 
richly  and  artistically  decorated,  consisting  of  five  concentric 
arches  or  moldings,  supported  by  five  columns  and  a  double 
column.  The  interior,  dignified  and  beautiful,  with  well  pro- 
portioned Romanesque  arches  richly  ornamented,  is  in  keeping 
with  the  exterior.  All  combine  to  make  an  architectural  achieve- 
ment worthy  of  any  people  in  any  age. 

The  cathedral  is  of  later  date,  belonging  to  a  period  short- 
ly after  1152,  when  Cashel  became  the  seat  of  the  archbishop  of 
Munster,  but  more  of  the  work  now  standing  was  built  toward 
the  end  of  the  14th  century.  Now  it  is  a  picturesque  but  melan- 
choly ruin. 

The  most  interesting  ruin  in  Connaught  is  that  of  Cong 
abbey.  Built  in  1128  by  the  Augustinians  during  Turlough  O'- 
Connor's reign,  it  was  endowed  by  his  son,  Roderick  O'Connor, 
the  last  independent  king  of  Ireland. 

Like  almost  all  of  the  old  religious  houses,  monasteries  and 
abbeys,  its  dilapidated  condition  reveals  the  work  of  sectarian, 
kingiy  greed,  animosity  and  vandalism.    Ivy  alone  is  beautifully 


JOHN  E.  LYNCH  227 

binding  up  or  hiding  the  cruel  wounds.  But  enough  of  its 
structure  remains  to  reveal  its  exquisite  beauty.  Many  of  its 
columns  and  "floral  capitals  carved  in  limestone  are  as  fine 
specimens  of  the  carver's  art  as  can  be  found  anywhere  in  the 
world, ' '  in  the  opinion  of  such  authorities  as  Petrie  and  Wilde. 

A  pleasant  ride  through  the  Boyne  valley  a  few  miles  out- 
side Drogheda  brings  the  traveler  to  the  monastery,  usually 
called  Mellifont.  With  Monasterboice  only  three  miles  distant, 
County  Louth  is  given  an  architectural  interest  not  to  be 
rivaled. 

At  Mellifont  stood  the  largest  and  most  beautiful  of  Irish 
monasteries;  but  though  its  nakedness  and  desolation  strike  the 
heart  there  is  still  enough  remaining  to  attest  the  grandeur  and 
beauty  it  once  possessed. 

It  was  founded  in  1142  for  the  Cistercian  order.  In  its 
style  of  architecture  was  little  or  nothing  that  was  tjq^ical  of 
the  Irish,  for  St.  Bernard  of  Clairvaux  sent  over  a  company  of 
monks  who  laid  the  first  foundation.  Everything  had  a  for- 
eign aspect. 

The  structure  known  as  the  Baptistry  is  the  finest  part 
left.  Octagonal  in  form,  it  stands  on  a  series  of  splendidly 
built  arches.  Ferguson  says  that  after  the  conquest,  the  Eng- 
lish introduced  their  own  pointed  architecture.  But  beyond 
the  Pale  their  influence  was  hardly  felt.  Whatever  was  done 
was  stamped  with  a  character  so  distinctly  Irish  as  to  show 
how  strong  the  feeling  of  the  people  was,  how  earnestlj^  and 
how  successfully  they  would  have  labored  in  the  field  of  art 
had  circumstances  been  favorable  to  its  development. 

A  careful  study  of  Irish  buildings  subsequent  to  the  con- 
quest of  the  12th  century  indicates  the  continuation  of  an  Irish 
style,  even  though  strongly  influenced  by  English  and  continen- 
tal principles.  The  germ  of  Gothic  architecture  in  Ireland  was 
introduced  by  Richard  de  Clare,  commonly  known  as  "Strong- 
bow,"  soon  after  1170  by  the  rebuilding  of  Christ  church  catli- 
edral  in  Dublin. 

Decidedly  English  are  some  of  the  structures  of  the  tran- 
sitional period,  but  others  show  remarkable  and  unmistakable 
Irish  characteristics.  Especially  is  this  true  of  the  Cistercian 
churches  of  Boyle,  abbey  Knockmoy,  Corcomroe,  and  Ballin- 
tober  abbey  of  the  early  part  of  the  13th  century. 

St.  Doulough's  church,  near  Dublin,  is  a  curious  instance 
of  a  return  to  the  old  Irish  plan,  as  in  St.  Columba's  at  Kells, 
of  the  combination  of  a  church  and  living  rooms  under  a  stone 
roof.    The  building  is  mainly  early  Gothic. 

Kildare  cathedral  on  the  site  of  St.  Brigid's  old  church  is 


228  THE  IRISH   IN  THE   ARTS 

a  very  interesting  fortified  and  battlemented  cliurcli  with  dou- 
ble walls,  wliicli  are  joined  between  the  windows,  making  flat 
buttresses.  The  outer  wall  is  carried  over  the  lancet  windows 
of  Gothic  arches,  a  slit  being  left  over  the  window  through 
which  molted  lead  might  be  poured  or  arrows  shot  to  drive  off 
an  enemy. 

Its  round  tower  is  an  evidence  of  the  persistency  of  the 
Irish  idea  found  as  far  back  as  the  time  of  St.  Kevin,  in  Glen- 
dalough. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  14th  century  the  influence  archi- 
tecturally of  England  and  the  continent  became  stronger.  Art 
is  too  tender  a  plant  to  thrive  under  the  warlike  conditions 
subsequent  to  the  Anglo-Xorman  invasion.  The  Irish  were  too 
busy  defending  their  homes  and  attacking  the  invaders  to  con- 
tinue the  artistic  development  that  characterized  the  150  years 
of  quietude  following  Brian's  victory  at  Clontarf. 

Holy  Cross  abbey,  in  its  newer  work,  also  bridges  over  the 
transition  to  late  Irish  Gothic. 

On  Killarney's  shores  one  sees  the  attractive  ruins  of  this 
latter  style  in  the  Franciscan  abbey  of  Muckross. 

The  cloisters  in  Jerpoint  abbey  remind  us  of  those  in 
Cashel,  built  two  centuries  before.  Much  carving  and  many 
designs  in  relief  enrich  the  recesses  between  the  shafts. 

In  Sligo  abbey  the  quadrangle  of  cloisters  presents  beauti- 
fully designed  and  carved  arches  of  stone  with  pillars,  differing 
in  their  carved  designs.  This  lack  of  uniformity,  together  with 
the  grace  and  dignity  of  the  whole,  adds  to  the  charm. 

The  stone  castles,  fortresses,  and  fortified  gates  were  an 
innovation  of  the  Norman  invaders.  With  these  they  held  in 
check  the  Irish,  and  the  latter  soon  learned  to  imitate  them  by 
building  similar  means  of  defense.  Thus  the  Gaelic  stockaded 
earthworks  and  the  duns  gave  way  to  such  structures  as  Blarn- 
ey castle,  the  great  castle  of  the  McCarthys.  In  Munster,  the 
d  'Briens ;  in  Ulster,  the  0  'Neil 's ;  in  Connaught,  the  0  'Connors ; 
and  elsewhere  other  Irish  princes  built  similar  strongholds, 
many  of  which  stand  like  Blarney,  eloquent  memorials  of  war- 
like days. 

Such  fortified  gates  as  the  St.  Lawrence  gate,  in  Drogheda, 
is  Norman.  It  is  one  of  the  two  gates  remaining  that  gave  en- 
trance to  the  walled  city.  Its  two  lofty  towers,  each  of  four 
stories,  has  stepped  embattlements  in  the  Irish  style. 

In  the  16th  century  under  Henry  VIII,  began  the  confisca- 
tion of  the  religious  houses  and  lands  in  both  England  and  Ire- 
land. During  the  reigns  of  Elizabeth  and  James,  the  despoiling 
and  destruction  continued.     To  the  monasteries,  the  universi- 


JOHN  E.  LYNCH  229 

ties  and  the  schools  of  the  country,  which  through  the  middle 
ages  "were  as  lamps  in  the  darkness  and  as  rivers  in  a  thirsty 
land,"  came  destruction  dire  and  wicked.  Ruin  and  desolation 
reigned. 

"How  changed  the  scene,  how  lonely  now  appears 
The  wasted  aisle,  wide  arch,  and  lofty  wall; 

The  sculjDtured  shape — the  pride  of  other  years. 
Now  darkened,  shaded,  sunk,  and  broken,  all; 

The  hail,  the  rain,  the"  sea-blown  gales  have  done 

Their  worst  to  crown  the  wreck  by  impious  man  begun. ' ' 

Anarchy 'increased,  religion,  education,  art,  gave  way  to 
ignorance  and  poverty  and  wretchedness. 

England's  arbitrary  acts  and  brutal  statutes  together  with 
the  inter-marriage  of  the  Norman  and  Celt  made  the  former 
more  Irish  than  the  Irish. 

Thereafter  Anglo-Norman  and  Irish  Celt  became  as  one 
nation  united  in  perpetuating  Irish  nationality,  Irish  religion, 
and  the  traditions  and  learning  of  the  Irish  race.  For  the 
greater  part  of  seven  centuries  has  the  contest  waged.  Through- 
out it  all  the  Irishman  smiled  through  his  tears:  he  saw  ever 
the  silver  lining  to  the  cloud.  The  bard  and  minstrels  from 
generation  to  generation  down  the  ages  kept  alive  in  his  heart 
the  glory  of  the  days  that  have  been  and  pictured  the  glory  of 
those  to  be. 

Any  description  of  Irish  art  would  be  incomplete  without 
reference,  however  brief,  to  that  art  of  beauty  and  expression, 
of  which  the  harp  is  the  symbol — the  art  of  music. 

Down  through  the  years  long  antedating  the  Christian  era, 
music  and  song  formed  an  integral  and  organic  part  of  Irish 
civilization  and  culture.  "From  the  cradle  to  the  grave,  in  all 
the  activities  of  peace  and  war,  the  sweet,  soothing  lullabies; 
the  joyous  airs  of  love  and  the  dance;  the  songs  of  bards  and 
minstrels,  singing  of  battles,  fought  and  won;  the  peaceful  mel- 
odies of  the  workers  in  cot  and  field;  the  weird  and  heartrend- 
ing keening;  songs  of  wailing  and  lamentation,  all  bear  witness 
to  the  place  music  had  in  the  expression  of  every  emotion  of 
the  Celtic  temperament." 

Hecateus,  the  Egyptian,  500  B.  C,  referred  to  the  Irish 
playing  on  the  harp  and  chanting  sacred  h^inns  in  the  temple; 
on  the  hills  of  Tara  the  musicians  ' '  softened  the  pillow  of  Cor- 
mac  McArt,  high  king  of  Erin;"  before  St.  Patrick  a  harper 
exclaimed,  ' '  Never  again  shall  my  harp  sing  the  praises  of  any 
God  save  St.  Patrick's  God,"  at  a  famous  feis  at  Tara  in  the 


2^0  '  THE   IRISH   IN  THE   ARTS 

sixth  century,  1000  bards  coming  together  inspired  the  harp  to 
shed  sweet  music  through  Tara's  halls;  on  the  field  of  Clontarf ; 
in  the  Orient  vales  of  the  Holy  Land,  in  the  first  crusade;  at  the 
courts  of  Scotland,  Wales,  and  on  the  continent;  in  the  monas- 
teries of  Eatisbon  and  St.  Gall  founded  by  Irishmen,  and  else- 
where in  Europe  the  Irish,  down  through  the  ages,  gained  in 
the  theory  and  practice  of  music  preeminence  and  undying 
fame. 

The  bards  and  minstrels  and  musicians  were  especially 
singled  out  for  extra  persecution  from  the  14th  century.  Under 
Edward  III  and  Henry  VIII  their  persecution  was  brutal ;  Eliz- 
abeth ordered  them  hung  and  their  instruments  destroyed; 
James  I  continued  the  wicked  work,  and  so  throughout  the 
Cromwellian  period  and  the  penal  days  down  to  the  latter  part 
of  the  18th  century,  their  sufferings  were  beyond  description — 
their  penalty  like  that  of  the  priest  and  the  teacher,  for  keep- 
ing alive  the  history  and  traditions  of  the  race.  It  is  said  that 
''Under  God  they  have  been  the  means  of  preserving  Irish  na- 
tionality and  faith  through  centuries  of  disaster  and  persecu- 
tions such  as  a  nation  never  before  suffered  and  lived. ' ' 

While  the  race  exists  so  will  its  music.  The  exquisite  metal 
work,  the  priceless  manuscripts,,  the  highly  sculptured  crosses, 
the  dignified  heaven-pointing  round  towers,  the  artistic  chapels 
and  churches  may  disintegrate,  crumble,  and  become  as  dust, 
but  the  poetry  and  song  of  the  Irish  people  will  live  on,  inspir- 
ing the  Irish  at  home  and  abroad,  to  keep  alive  all  that  is  wor- 
thiest and  best  in  the  national  character. 

This  indestructible  spirit  has  for  nigh  800  years  buoyed  up 
the  hearts  of  Erin's  patriot's  until  at  last  we  can  sav  with 
O'Reilly: 

"0,  Erin, 

The  night  of  thy  grief  is  closing,  and  the  sky  in  the  east  is  red : 

Thy  children  watch  from  the  mountain  tops  for  the  sun  to  kiss 
thy  head. 

0,  mother  of  men  that  are  fit  to  be  free,  from  their  rest  for  free- 
dom borne. 

Thy  vacant  place  in  the  nation's  race  awaits  but  the  coming 
morn ! ' ' 

To  the  descendants  of  the  Irish  in  America  has  come  a  rich 
double  legacy — that  from  the  old  and  that  from  the  new.  By 
adhering  to  the  best  the  old  has  given  them,  by  rehearsing  and 
cherishing  it,  they  become  more  worthy  of  the  freedom  and  op- 
portunity which  they  inherit  in  the  new;  and  the  harp  of  the 


JOHN  E.  LYNCH  231' 

old,  no  longer  mute,  will  be  then  a  source  of  inspiration  to  them 
for  the  highest  kind  of  patriotism  both  in  peace  and  in  war,  in 
the  new  land,  in  the  free  land,  "where  the  air  is  full  of  sun- 
shine and  the  flag  is  full  of  stars. ' ' 

NOTE. — Grateful  acknowledgement  is  made  to  the  follow- 
ing authorities  and  to  others  whose  writings  have  been  of  in- 
estimable help  in  the  preparation  of  this  lecture,  both  as  sourc- 
es of  reference  and  of  libe,ral  quotation:  Petrie's  Ecclesiastical 
Architecture  of  Ireland,  O 'Neil's  Fine  Arts  and  Civilization  of 
Ancient  Ireland,  Ferguson's  History  of  Architecture,  McGinty's 
Ancient  Irish  Art,  Stokes's  Early  Christian  Art  in  Ireland, 
Armstron2:'s  Art  in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland. 


George  McAleer,  M.  D. 


Dr.  George  McAleer  was  born  November  29,  1845, 
on  a  farm  near  Bedford  in  the  Province  of  Quebec,  on 
which  his  parents.  Miles  McAleer  and  Jane  (McCon- 
nell)  McAleer,  settled  soon  after  their  arrival  from 
County  Tyrone,  Ireland.  He  attended  the  public 
fechools  of  his  native  village,  private  schools  of  a  high- 
er grade,  and  graduated  from  Stanbridge  Academy,  in 
v^liich  he  taught  classes  in  Latin,  Greek  and  higher 
mathematics. 

On  attaining  his  majority.  Dr.  McAleer  came  to 
Worcester,  Mass.  He  was  employed  as  bookkeeper  and 
accountant  in  a  large  folding  chair  factory.  From  his 
youth  he  had  an  ambition  to  fit  himself  for  the  medical 
profession,  and  for  many  years  applied  all  his  leisure 
time  to  mastering  the  preliminary  studies.  He  made 
his  medical  course  in  Philadelphia. 

Dr.  McAleer  is  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Bay  State 
Savings  Bank  of  Worcester  and  has  served  as  Treasur- 
er for  twenty  years.  He  has  been  an  extensive  con- 
tributor to  publications  and  is  the  author  of  several 
volumes.  He  is  a  member  of  Division  3,  A.  0.  H.,  of 
Worcester.  Litigation  over  his  patents  in  the  Federal 
Courts  extending  over  several  years  prevented  him 
from  engaging  in  the  practice  of  medicine.  For  many 
years  he  has  been  associated  with  his  brother  in  the 
Harness  and  Saddlery  business.  Dr.  McAleer  married 
Helen  Frances  Kendall,  June  2, 1874. 


^<^/^^^?^>^^ 


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■■■■•.  :aa,>,-; 

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lEurnp^an    (UnnntvitB 


-BY- 


DR.   GEORGE  McALEER 


I  am  to  address  joxi  upon  the  subject  of  Ireland's  contribu- 
tions to  the  progress  of  other  European  countries.  To  ade- 
quately treat  the  subject  assigned  to  me  would  require  the  pre- 
sentation and  consideration  of  authentic  and  important  matter 
bearing  thereon  sufficient  to  fill  many  extensive  volumes.  In 
the  time  at  my  disposal  I  can  only  hope  to  briefly  and  in  a  very 
general  way  touch  uj^on  a  few  of  the  more  important  contribu- 
tions that  Ireland  has  made  to  the  civilization  and  progress  of 
the  countries  mentioned,  and  through  them  to  the  world  at 
large,  but  which  I  hope  may  awaken  anew  a  greater  sense  of 
admiration,  appreciation  and  gratitude  for  the  glorious  pre- 
eminence attained  in  Christianity  and  civilization  by  our  fore- 
fathers during  the  early  centuries  of  the  Christian  era,  and  for 
what  they  so  nobly  did  for  the  welfare  of  mankind  under  the 
most  adverse  conditions,  and  which  it  is  hoped  may  stimulate 
renewed  interest  and  desire  for  further  investigation  and  study. 

To  be  just,  the  contributions  of  a  nation  and  people  to  the 
welfare  of  other  nations  and  peoples  must  be  considered  from 
the  standpoint  of  the  civilization  and  opportunities  of  the  bene- 
factor, and  century  and  period  must  be  compared  with  a  cor- 
responding century  and  period. 

The  various  events  which  go  to  form  what  is  called  the  his- 
tory of  a  nation — its  achievements  and  contributions  to  the 
welfare  of  the  world — are  its  individual  actions,  the  spontane- 
ous energy  and  manifestation  of  its  life;  and  as  individuals 
show  what  they  are  by  their  acts,  so  does  a  nation  or  a  race  by 
the  facts  of  its  history.  To  readily  and  more  fully  comprehend 
what  Ireland  contributed  directly  to  the  other  European  na- 
tions it  may  be  well  to  very  briefly  recall  how  the  spontaneous 
life  of  her  people  had  manifested  itself  during  the  earlier  cen- 
turies, with  what  results,  and  what  gifts  of  transcendant  value 


234        IRELAND'S   CONTRIBUTION   TO    EUROPEAN   COUNTRIES 

she  had  in  abundance  to  bestow  upon  less  favored  nations  and 
peoples. 

An  impartial  investigation  of  the  early  history  of  Christian 
Ireland  will  prove  her  title  to  supremacy  in  enlightenment  and 
civilization — in  learning,  arts,  sciences,  and  in  all  other  intel- 
lectual pursuits  that  dignify,  ennoble  and  adorn  the  lives  of 
highly  cultured  people — during  a  period  of  nearly  a  thousand 
years  before  the  unparalelled  and  unpardonable  brutal  perse- 
cutions and  devastations  of  later  centuries. 

The  people  of  no  nation  ever  accepted  the  teaching  of  the 
Master  so  promptly,  so  generally,  or  with  greater  alacrity;  the 
people  of  no  nation  have  ever  been  more  faithful  to  His  com- 
mands or  suffered  greater  or  more  cruel  and  persistent  persecu- 
tions because  of  their  fidelity  and  devotion  thereto.  During  all 
the  years  of  many  centuries  after  the  coming  of  Saint  Patrick 
in  A.  D.  432,  the  light  of  Christianity  and  the  triumphs  of  civil- 
ization reigned  supreme  throughout  the  land.  Cathedrals  and 
churches  multiplied  throughout  the  country;  monasteries,  ab- 
beys, and  schools  were  built  upon  hilltop  and  plain;  the  refine- 
ments and  amenities  of  highly  civilized  life  were  everywhere  in 
evidence.  Thoughtful  and  unprejudiced  scholars  and  intellect- 
ual leaders  in  many  lands  pay  the  excellent  tribute  of  justice, 
appreciation  and  gratitude  to  the  many  noble  and  distinguished 
Irish  monks  and  scholars  of  the  early  centuries  of  the  Christian 
era,  who,  having  heeded  the  commands  of  the  Master,  brought 
the  light  of  learning,  the  blessings  of  Christianity,  and  the 
amenities  of  Christian  love  and  fellowship  into  the  darkened 
places  of  the  pagan  and  benighted  world — men  who  gave  the 
classics,  sciences  and  refinements  and  higher  aspirations  of  life 
to  the  unlettered  and  less  responsive  people  of  many  lands — 
Irish  monks  and  scholars  who  during  all  the  years  of  seven 
centuries  grew  not  weary  of  preparing  and  pouring  the  oil  of 
learning  and  righteousness  into  the  lamp  of  civilization,  the  af- 
terglow of  the  brilliant  rays  of  which  still  gloriously  illumine 
the  nations  of  Western  Europe  and  very  materially  aided  in 
giving  them  commanding  prominence  and  place  in  the  affairs 
and  councils  of  the  nations  of  the  world  from  distant  ages  to 
the  present  time.  Their  triumphs  for  God  and  right — and  thus 
for  the  welfare  of  mankind — are  an  aureole  of  glory  adorning 
the  land  of  their  nativity  and  ancestors. 

So  much  attention  was  bestowed  upon  education,  and  so 
highly  was  it  appreciated,  that,  in  the  restricted  territory  of 
Ireland  the  celebrated  and  extensive  institutions  of  Clonard, 
Clonfert,  Bangor,  Clonmacnois,  Arran,  Lismore,  Grlendalough, 
and  many  others  of  lesser  note,  devoted  to  Christianity  and 


DR.  GEORGE  McALEER  235 

learning,  were  filled  to  overflowing  in  the  sixth  century  with  the 
youth  of  Ireland  and  students  of  rank  from  the  nobility  and 
leading  families  of  Western  Europe  who  came  in  great 
numbers  to  receive  the  benefits  of  such  an  education  as 
could  then  be  obtained  nowhere  else.  AVlien  they  returned  to 
their  homes  their  advanced  scholarship  made  them  conspicuous 
and  gave  them  great  prestige  and  high  standing  with  their 
fellowmen  and  distinguished  i)rominence  in  the  governments 
and  daily  life  of  the  people.  They  so  generally  diffused  such 
unbounded  admiration  for  the  scholarship,  austerities,  and  al- 
truism of  the  monks,  and  of  the  intellectual  attainments  and  re- 
finements of  the^inhabitants,  that  the  fame  of  Ireland  during  all 
the  years  of  several  centuries  shone  as  a  brilliant  star  of  the  first 
magnitude  in  the  world  of  learning  and  civilization. 

In  proof  of  the  early  Christianity  and  advanced  civilization 
of  the  people  of  Ireland  and  the  great  benefits  conferred  by  her 
missionaries  and  scholars  upon  foreign  lands  and  through  them 
upon  the  world  at  large,  however  alluring  and  agreeable  the 
task,  for  lack  of  time  I  shall  submit  the  testimony  of  but  a  few 
of  the  many  that  might  be  quoted,  and  these  I  shall  select  from 
among  those  who  cannot  be  accused  of  being  prompted  by 
friendship  or  undue  partiality. 

The  learned  German  scholar,  publicist,  and  antiquary,  the 
late  Heinrich  Zimmer,  Professor  of  Celtic  in  Berlin,  and  one  of 
the  very  ablest  Celtists  that  Germany  ever  produced,  in  the 
Preussich  Jahrbucher  thus  testifies : 

''Ireland  can  indeed  lay  claim  to  a  great  past;  she  can  not 
only  boast  of  having  been  the  birthplace  and  abode  of  high  cul- 
tivation in  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries  at  the  time  when  the 
Roman  Empire  vras  being  undermined  by  the  alliances  and  in- 
roads of  the  German  tribes,  which  threatened  to  sink  the  whole 
continent  into  barbarism,  but  also  to  having  made  strenuous 
efforts  in  the  seventh  and  up  to  the  tenth  century  to  spread  her 
learning  among  the  German  and  Eomance  peoples,  thus  form- 
ing the  actual  foundation  of  our  present  continental  civilization. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  sixth  century  these 

Irish  Christians  were  seized  with  an  unconquerable  impulse  to 
wander  afar  and  preach  Christianity  to  the  heathen.  In  563, 
Columba,  with  twelve  confederates,  left  Ireland  and  founded 
a  monaster}^  on  a  small  island  off  the  coast  of  Scotland;  in  590, 
Columbanus  and  twelve  confederates  established  a  missionary 
monastery  at  Anagratum  in  the  Vosges  mountains  in  France, 
and  later  another  at  Luxivium  which  became  a  most  fruitful 
center  of  ecclesiastical  and  monastic  life.  In  610  he  founded  an- 
other at  the  foot  of  the  Appenines  between  Genoa  and  Milan 


236         IRELAND'S   CONTRIBUTION   TO   EUROPEAN   COUNTRIES 

which  throughout  the  middle  ages  bore  a  high  reputation  as  a 
seat  of  learning, 

"An  offshoot  of  the  monastery  founded  by  St.  Columba  on 
the  island  of  lona  was  founded  in  Lindisfarne;  in  590,  Colum- 
banus  and  companions  established  a  monastery  in  France  at 
Luxeuil,  and  later  another  at  Bobbio  in  Italy;  St.  Gall  another  in 
Switzerland;  St.  Fridolin  another  upon  the  Ehine  in  Germany; 
St.  Fiacre  another  in  Brabant;  St.  Fursey  another  on  the  river 
Marne;  St.  Cataldus  another  in  Italy.  The  great  Charlemagne, 
founder  of  modern  European  civilization,  surrounded  himself 
with  learned  Irishmen,  and  at  his  celebrated  Court  they  were 
accorded  prominent  station  of  responsibilitj^  and  honor  and 
where  they  were  known  as  'men  incomparably  skilled  in  hu- 
man learning.'  "  In  reference  to  the  standards  of  learning  in 
the  monasteries  in  Ireland  he  records:  "The  standard  of  learn- 
ing was  much  higher  than  with  Gregory  the  Great  and  his  fol- 
lowers. It  was  derived  without  interruption  from  the  learning 
of  the  fourth  century,  from  men  such  as  Ambrose,  Jerome,  and 
Augustine.  Here  also  were  to  be  found  such  specimens  of  clas- 
sical literature  as  Virgil's  works  among  the  ecclesiastical  writ- 
ings, and  an  acquaintance  with  Greek  authors  as  well,  besides 
the  opportunity  of  free  access  to  the  very  first  sources  of  Christ- 
ianity." 

it  is  recorded  in  Bede's   Historia    Qentis   Anglorum   that 

Ireland  even  shared  in  attempts  to  convert  the  Frieslanders 
and  Saxons.  The  energetic  English  missionaries  to  these  peo- 
ple at  the  end  of  the  seventh  century,  Victberct,  Hewald,  and 
Wilibrord,  although  Anglo-Saxons  by  birth,  all  received  their 
theological  training  in  Ireland.  Alcuin  records  of  Wilibrord, 
the  apostle  to  Friesland,  that  he  spent  twelve  years  in  Ireland 
under  the  most  distinguished  teachers  of  theology,  and  that 
"Britain  gave  him  birth  but  Ireland  reared  and  educated 
him." 

Hieric,  in  his  biography  of  St.  Germanus,  a  bishop  of  Eom- 
an  Gaul,  a  work  finished  in  the  year  876,  records:  "Need  I  re- 
mind Ireland  that  she  sent  troops  of  philosophers  over  land  and 
seas  to  our  distant  shores,  that  her  most  learned  sons  offered 
their  gifts  of  wisdom  of  their  own  free  will  to  our  learned  King, 
our  Solomon." 

Dr.  Reeves  gives  extended  notice  to  the  achievements  of  the 
Irish  missionaries.  Saints  Cataldus,  Fiacre,  Fridolin,  Colman, 
and  Killian,  none  of  whom  find  place  in  English  annals.  St. 
Cataldus  labored  in  Southern  Italy;  St.  Fiacre,  in  France;  St. 
Colman  is  the  patron  saint  of  lower  Austria;  St.  Killian  taught 
in  Franconia;  St.  Fridolin  at  Glau\ms,  where  his  figure  finds 


DR.  GEORGE  McALEER  237 

place  in  the  cantonal  arms  and  banner.  And  lie  further  records 
of  Ireland:  "We  must  deplore  the  merciless  rule  of  barbarism 
in  this  country  (England),  whence  was  swept  away  all  domes- 
tic evidence  of  advanced  learning,  leaving  scarcely  anything  at 
home  but  legendary  lore,  and  which  has  compelled  us  to  draw 
from  foreign  depositories  the  materials  on  which  to  rest  the 
proof  that  Ireland  of  old  was  really  entitled  to  that  literary 
eminence  which  national  feeling  lays  claim  to.  Our  real  knowl- 
edge of  the  crowds  of  Irish  teachers  and  scribes  who  migrated 
to  the  Continent  and  became  founders  of  many  monasteries 
abroad,  is  derived  from  foreign  chronicles  and  their  testimony 
is  borne  out  by  the  evidence  of  numerous  Irish  manuscripts 
and  other  relics  of  the  eighth  to  the  tenth  century,  occuring  in 
libraries  throughout  Europe. ' ' 

Alcuin,  the  great  author  and  pride  of  the  brilliant  and  dis- 
tinguished Court  of  Charlemagne,  affirms  the  fact  that  in  ear- 
lier times  the  most  learned  instructors  of  Britain,  Gaul  and  Up- 
X)er  Italy  were  from  Ireland. 

At  home  her  prelates  and  clergy  were  appreciated  and  re- 
spected, abroad  her  missionaries  and  the  scholars  of  her  schools 
were  distinguished  and  highly  honored.  The  overflow  of 
Christianity,  learning  and  zeal  of  the  people  of  Ireland  illumin- 
ed the  darkened,  less  favored  and  less  responsive  nations  of 
Western  Europe  and  well  earned  for  her  the  glorious  title  of 
"the  Island  of  saints  and  scholars." 

Such  were  the  glorious  centuries  of  Ireland's  history — such 
was  the  golden  age  of  Ireland-^and  such  were  the  glorious  fruits 
in  which  she  rejoiced  and  which  she  so  bountifully  bestowed 
upon  less  favored  nations  and  upon  less  fortunate  peoples.  But 
a  sadder  day  dawned — the  glorious  sunshine  of  civilization  was 
darkened  by  the  clouds  of  war,  devastation  and  pillage.  During 
the  ninth,  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries,  the  persistent  incur- 
sions and  warfare  of  the  Norsemen  made  serious  inroads  upon 
the  prosperity  and  resources  of  Ireland.  The  flocks  and  herds 
with  which  the  Island  abounded  and  the  richly  endowed  shrines 
and  schools  were  the  chief  attractions  for  these  piratical  barbar- 
ians. The  sacred  places  and  their  valuable  treasures  suffered 
most  from  their  incursions  and  fury. 

In  A.  D.  838,  they  despoiled  and  burned  down  Clonard,  a  fa- 
mous school  and  See;  and  in  the  same  expedition,  Slane,  the 
school  of  King  Dagobert,  and  Durrow  of  Columbcille  also  suf- 
fered; four  times  in  the  same  century  Armagh  was  devastated 
and  laid  in  ruins;  Lismore,  and  even  Clonmacnois,  in  the  very 
heart  of  the  country,  were  rifled.  Three  centuries  of  peace,  in 
earlier  times,  had  left  the  pious  and  studious  Irish  ill  prepared 


238        IRELAND'S   CONTRIBUTION   TO   EUROPEAN   COUNTRIES 

to  resist  these  swarms  of  fierce  invaders,  but  necessitj'  aroused 
and  restored  the  warlike  spirit  and  valor  of  the  race. 

In  863  they  defeated  the. Danes  near  Lough  Foyle;  in  902 
near  Dublin;  at  Dundalk  in  920;  at  Eoscrea  in  943;  at  Lough 
Foyle  in  1002;  and  upon  many  other  bloody  battlefields  until 
they  were  finally  overthrown  and  driven  out  of  Ireland  by  Brian 
Boroimhe,  King  of  Munster,  in  the  famous  and  decisive  battle 
of  Clontarf  in  1014. 

This  lengthened  period  of  conflict  and  warfare  was  soon  af- 
ter followed  by  the  Norman  invasion,  and  later  by  the  more 
brutal,  cruel  and  relentless  wars  and  persecutions  of  the  English 
which  were  begun  in  1171  under  Henry  II  and  continued  ever 
since,  but  with  abated  fury  and  lessened  animosity  during  later 
years.  From  the  time  of  the  invasion  of  Ireland  in  1171  the  one 
great  object  of  England  was  nothing  less  than  robbery  and  the 
extermination  of  the  Irish  people.  To  effect  this  heinous  pur- 
pose no  cruelty  was  too  severe,  no  method  too  barbarous.  This 
fiendish  undertaking  having  been  unsuccessfully  persisted  in 
during  several  centuries  without  fully  achieving  the  intended 
result,  an  embassy  was  sent  to  Ireland  by  Henry  VI 11  to  make 
extended  observation  and  to  report  upon  the  wisdom  or  unwis- 
dom of  continuing  the  unholy  undertaking  and  to  recommend 
the  best  means  to  adopt  to  prosecute  the  nefarious  work,  should 
the  prospect  of  final  success  justify  the  continuance  of  the  policy 
of  extermination.  Their  report,  now  on  file  among  the  State  pa- 
pers of  England  with  others  relating  to  the  same  subject,  gives 
greater  prominence  to  the  practical  difficulties  that  would  follow 
extermination  than  to  the  barbarity  of  the  undertaking  or  to  the 
best  method  of  accomplishing  the  long  desired  result.  Among 
other  things  it  is  noted  in  the  report  that : 

''The  lande  is  very  large — by  estimation  as  large  as  Eng- 
lande — so  that  to  inhabit  the  whole  with  new  inhabitants  the 
number  would  be  so  great  that  there  is  no  prince  christened  that 
commodiously  might  spare  so  many  subjects  to  depart  out  of 
his  region But  to  enterprise  the  whole  extir- 
pation and  total  destruction  of  all  the  Irishmen  of  the  lande,  it 
would  be  a  marvelous  and  sumptuous  charge  and  great  difficul- 
ty, considering  both  the  lack  of  enhabitors,  and  the  great  hard- 
iness and  misery  these  Irishmen  can  endure,  both  of  hunger, 
cold  and  thirst,  and  evil  lodging,  more  than  the  inhabitants  of 
any  other  lande. ' ' 

Cromwell,  known  in  history  as  the  friend  and  tool  of  Cran- 
mer,  and  by  the  people  of  Ireland  as  a  fiend  incarnate  because 
of  his  atrocity  and  brutality,  in  continuation  of  the  old-time 
policy  of  extermination,  inquired  of  his  English  agents  in  Ire- 


DR.  GEORGE  McALEER  239 

land  what  would  be  tlie  best  means  to  adopt  to  accomplish  the 
same  purpose  and  forever  subjugate  the  country.  Their  re- 
port, which  is  still  preserved  among  the  many  State  papers  of 
England  of  similar  import,  sets  forth  that  the  most  efficient 
mode  of  proceeding  was  the  old-time  policy,  to  exterminate  the 
people,  and  that  the  best  means  to  ensure  this  result  was  starva- 
tion. The  corn — a  term  then  used  to  include  all  cereals  used 
as  food — was  to  be  destroyed  systematically  and  the  cat- 
tle killed  or  driven  away — and  it  was  a  special  glory  reserved 
for  the  * '  Protector ' '  to  carry  out  this  fiendish  policy  throughout 
almost  the  whole  of  the  countr3\  "The  very  living  of  the 
Irishy,"  says»the  report,  "doth  clearly  consist  in  two  things: 
take  away  the  same  from  them  and  they  are  passed  forever  to 
recover,  or  get  to  annoy  any  subject  in  Ireland.  Take  first  from 
them  their  corn,  and  as  much  as  cannot  be  husbanded  and  had 
into  the  hands  of  such  as  shall  dwell  and  inhabit  their  lands,  to 
burn  and  destroy  the  same  so  that  the  Irisliy  shall  not  live  there- 
upon; and  then  to  have  their  cattle  and  beasts,  which  shall  be 
most  hardest  to  come  by,  and  yet,  with  guides  and  policy  they 
may  be  oft  had  and  taken."  The  report  goes  on  to  point  out 
most  ingeniously  and  elaborately  every  plan  and  artifice  for 
carrying  this  diabolical  policy  into  effect. 

"Irishmen  are  of  opinion  among  themselves,"  said  Justice 
Cusack  to  the  King,  "that  Englishmen  will  one  day  banish 
them  from  their  lands  forever. ' ' 

Previous  to  the  year  1600  the  horrors  of  warfare  had  been 
the  lot  of  the  people  of  Ireland  durng  the  preceding  eight  hun- 
dred years.  They  were  robbed  of  their  worldly  possessions, 
their  monasteries,  abbeys,  cathedrals,  churches  and  schools 
were  plundered  and  destroyed,  and  her  extensive  and  priceless 
literary  treasures  were  given  to  the  devouring  flames.  People 
of  rank  and  quality  were  impoverished  and  had  only  old  rags 
and  thatches  of  straw  to  cover  and  protect  them  in  inclement 
weather;  wives  bitterly  bemoaning  the  murders  of  their  hus- 
bands; mothers  forced  to  see  their  children  butchered  before 
Iheir  faces  or  imj^aled  as  playthings  upon  the  bayonets  of  de- 
graded and  brutal  soldiers;  others  overwhelmed  with  grief  and 
distracted  by  their  persecutions  and  losses.  Desolate  and  starv- 
ing inothers  and  children,  and  the  aged  and  infirm,  sought  se- 
curity and  shelter  in  gloomy  caverns,  mountain  fastnesses,  hid- 
den ravines  and  other  obscure  places,  where  they  wasted  away 
and  died  of  hunger,  exposure,  fear  and  apprehension,  to  gratify 
the  inhumanity  of  a  brutal  soldiery  and  the  insatiable  cruelty 
and  avarice  of  an  intolerant,  persecuting  and  relentless  foe. 
The  underlying  records  of  the  heart-rending  details  of  the  suf- 


240        IRELAND'S   CONTRIBUTION   TO   EUROPEAN   COUNTRIES 

fering  of  the  people  of  Ireland  during  so  many  centuries  are 
burned  deeply  into  the  memory  of  her  j^eople,  and  they  eloquent- 
ly and  forcefully  plead  in  explanation  and  extenuation  of  the 
loss  of  intellectual  sujiremacy  and  leadership  of  Ireland  in 
later  times.  The  unceasing  warfare  and  violent  persecutions  of 
centuries,  which  for  fiendish  atrocity  and  brutality  have,  hap- 
pily for  the  credit  of  human  nature,  no  paralell  in  the  annals  of 
Time,  have  tended  to  direct  the  interest  and  attention  of  the 
people  away  from  intellectual  pursuits  and  the  refinements  of 
life  and  to  promote  the  growth  and  development  of  the  warlike 
spirit  for  the  defense  of  their  homes  and  altars — to  supplant  the 
institutions  of  religion  and  learning  with  frowning  fortresses 
and  bloody  battle-fields— to  supplant  the  scholar  with  the  war- 
rior. It  was  reserved  for  the  base  Tudors  to  inflict  the  effective 
and  lasting  blows  that  worked  the  sad  and  sorrowful  transfor- 
mation. The  robberies  and  destruction  of  cathedrals  and  mon- 
asteries, the  treasure  houses  of  religion  and  learning,  and  the 
butchery  and  dispersion  of  their  incumbents  by  Henry  VIII,  the 
hideous  penal  laws  of  Elizabeth,  and  their  more  cruel  enforce- 
ment by  their  mercenary  and  blood-thirsty  representatives  and 
successors,  left  no  other  choice  but  a  soldier 's  life  for  the  people. 

We,  the  descendants  of  such  noble  ancestry — the  successors 
of  these  glorious  confessors  and  martyrs  of  old — may  forgive, 
but  can  we  ever  forget?— we  may  forgive  but  the  facts  of  his- 
tory remain  to  stir  the  blood  within  us,  to  arouse  and  to  warn; 
we  may  forgive  but  we  cannot  forget  that  the  relentless  intoler- 
ance and  injustice  from  which  our  worthy  forbears  so  cruelly 
suffered,  although  now  so  cunningly  ignored,  disguised  and 
apologized  for,  still  remain,  and  that  history  repeats  itself. 

We  do  not  recall  nor  dwell  upon  the  horrors  of  the  past  be- 
cause it  is  a  pleasure  to  do  so,  but  because  it  is  our  bounden  duty 
to  know  and  to  gratefully  remember  the  trials  and  vicissitudes 
of  centuries  that  our  ancestors  sustained  for  their  loyalty  and 
devotion  to  principle;  it  is  not  muck-raking  nor  tearing  open 
old  sores  to  gratify  a  wanton  spirit  of  vindictiveness  but  to 
kindle  anew  our  love  and  veneration  for  the  memory  of  those 
gone  before  who  so  loyally  and  manfully  cherished  and  suffered 
in  defense  of  lofty  ideals  and  loyalty  to  conscience  and  the 
teaching  of  the  Eedeemer  of  mankind  and  of  His  worthy  di- 
sciple Saint  Patrick  and  his  loyal  and  devoted  successors.  * 

The  year  1600  dawned  in  darkest  gloom  and  sorrow — the 
inheritance  of  the  past  was  insufferable — and  yet  their  hope 
and  valor  remained,  and  these  once  again  prompted  them  to  or- 
ganize and  seek  justice  by  the  sword.  The  confederation  of 
Kilkenny  followed — a  movement,  the  outgrowth  of  the  abhor- 


DR.  GEORGE  McALEER  241 

rence  of  the  outrages  of  the  past  and  the  intense  patriotism  and 
love  of  the  people  for  liberty  that  promised  a  brighter  and  bet- 
ter fnture^^ — a  movement  that  for  breadth  of  comprehension  and 
wisdom  in  formulation  may  well  challenge  comparison  with  the 
best  and  bravest  efforts  ever  made  to  right  the  wrongs  of  a 
plundered  and  grievously  oppressed  people.  The  battles  and 
massacres  of  Dungan  Hill,  Knocknanos,  Athlone,  Aughrim,  Dro- 
heda,  Wexford,  and  of  others  elsewhere,  while  valiantly  main- 
tained ended  disastrously.  The  final  effort  was  made  at  the  des- 
perate and  memorable  siege  of  Limerick  which  was  bravely  and 
fiercely  contested  but  which  was  forced  to  capitulate  to  vastly 
superior  num\)ers  and  armament,  and  to  submit  to  the  disper- 
sion of  the  flower  of  the  officers  and  men  of  the  Irish  army  to 
the  other  nations  of  Europe,  where  as  they  of  old  covered  them- 
selves with  glory  and  added  new  lustre  to  the  land  of  their  na- 
tivity. Thenceforward,  the  contributions  of  Ireland  to  other 
European  countries  were  more  along  military  lines  upon  bloody 
battle-fields  than  in  churches  and  the  halls  of  learning. 

As  years  went  by  and  oppression  increased  in  Ireland,  the 
numbers  of  Irish  soldiers  on  the  continent  grew  larger  and, 
therefore,  we  can  scarcely  name  a  battle  of  any  importance  in 
which  they  did  not  figure  in  a  conspicuous  manner.  And  it  is 
worthy  of  note  that  the  Irish  regiment  was  always  found  with 
its  face  to  the  foe  in  the  thick  of  the  fight.  The  English  his- 
torian, Macauley,  in  writing  of  the  effect  of  the  penal  laws,  tells 
his  readers  that  "Irish  Catholics  rose  to  important  military 
and  civil  positions  in  France,  Italy  and  Spain,  in  the  armies  of 
Frederick  the  Great  and  Maria  Theresa;  Irish  Catholics  who,  if 
they  had  remained  at  home,  would  have  been  looked  down  upon 
by  all  the  ignorant  and  worthless  squireens  who  had  signed  the 
declaration  against  transubstantiation.  In  his  palace  at  Ma- 
drid he  (Wall,  minister  of  Ferdinand  the  Sixth)  had  the  pleas- 
ure of  being  assiduously  courted  by  the  ambassador  of  George 
the  Second,  and  of  bidding  defiance  in  high  terms  to  the  am- 
bassador of  George  the  Third.  Scattered  all  over  Europe  were 
to  be  found  Irish  counts,  Irish  barons,  Irish  knights  of  Saint 
Louis  and  of  Saint  Leopold,  of  the  White  Eagle  and  of  the  Gold- 
en Fleece,  who,  if  they  had  remained  in  the  house  of  bondage 
could  not  have  been  ensigns  of  marching  regiments  or  freemen 
of  petty  corporations. ' ' 

Greater  numbers  of  Irishmen  have  fought  in  the  armies  of 
France,  long  England's  bitterest  enemy,  than  under  the  flag  of 
any  other  nation  on  the  continent.  After  the  siege  and  surren- 
der of  Limerick,  in  1691,  almost  the  entire  garrison  embarked 
for  France,  on  the  advice  of  Sarsfield,  and.Ainder  the  command 


242        IRELAND'S    COXTRIBUTIOX   TO   EUROPEAN   COUNTRIES 

of  Lieutenant-General  Sheldon,  and  there  formed  the  famous 
Second  Brigade.  What  was  known  as  the  First  Brigade  consist- 
ed of  the  three  regiments  sent  the  year  before  to  Loiiix  XIV  in 
exchange  for  help  from  France  in  the  cause  of  James  11.  But  in 
this  exchange  the  French  did  not  keep  faith  for  they  sent  over 
sev^eral  very  inferior  regiments  composed  of  young  and  inex- 
perienced men,  while  the  soldiers  returned  from  Ireland  were 
picked  regiments  of  old  and  disciplined  men  under  Mount- 
cashel.  Daniel  O'Brien,  eldest  son  of  Lord  Clare,  and  Arthur 
Dillon.  This  brigade  served  with  Catinat  in  Italy,  where  they 
distinguished  themselves  in  many  fights  on  the  old  battle-fields 
of  the  world. 

The  Second  Brigade,  under  the  command  of  Sarsfield,  took 
part  in  the  siege  of  Namur,  which  surrendered  after  seven  days. 
Sarsfield,  at  its  head,  publicly  received  the  thanks  of  the  French 
for  the  great  service  rendered  them,  and  in  the  following  March 
was  made  a  Field-Marshal.  But  he  was  not  destined  to  enjoy 
his  honors  long,  for  in  July  of  the  same  year,  1693,  he  met  liis 
death  at  the  battle  of  Landen  fighting  in  the  cause  of  a  ])etty 
tyrant  who  refused  to  tolerate  the  Huguenots.  Sarsfield 's  death 
was  made  all  the  more  sad  and  bitter  by  the  realization  that  he 
i)ad  not  sacrificed  his  life  in  the  service  of  his  own  country.  As 
he  lay  mortally  wounded  on  the  battle-field  he  is  said  to  have 
raised  his  hand  wet  with  his  own  blood  and  to  have  ])athetically 
said  to  those  about  him:  "Oh,  that  this  had  been  d<uie  for  Ire- 
land." 

During  the  war  of  the  Spanish  Succession,  which  broke  out 
in  1701,  the  Irish  Brigade  held  an  important  position  in  all  the 
great  battles  and  rendered  invaluable  service  to  France.  The 
successful  defence  of  Cremona  when  surprised  by  Prince  Eu- 
gene was  due  to  the  valiant  stand  of  a  small  company  of  Irish- 
men who  held  the  Po  gate  of  the  city  against  greatly  superior 
numbers.  The  bravery  of  the  Irish  troops  was  cons]ncuous  at 
the  famous  battles  of  Blenheim  (1704),  Oudenarde  (1708),  and 
Malplaquet  (1709),  and  Irishmen  fought  under  Berwick  at  the 
battle  of  Almanza,  and  Mahoney  won  victories  for  the  French 
in  Sicily.  In  the  battle  of  Fontenoy,  in  1745,  the  gi-eatest  vic- 
tory of  France  over  England  since  the  battle  of  Hastinscs,  in 
1066,  the  two  Irish  Brigades  lost  their  chiefs  and  were  decimat 
ed  by  their  many  desperate  and  victorious  charges.  In  1695  all 
the  remaining  veterans  were  organized  into  a  brigade  of  twelve 
full  regiments,  four  of  horse  and  eight  of  infantry,  under  the 
descendants  of  their  first  officers.  Until  the  revolution  in  1791 
they  took  ])art  in  every  war  in  which  France  was  engaged. 
From  1691  to  the  vear  1745,  after  the  battle  of  Fontenov.  above 


DR.   GEORGE  McALEER  243 

four  hundred  aud  fifty  thousand  Irishmen  lost  their  lives  in  the 
service  of  France.  Many  of  the  officers  of  the  brigade  founded 
distinguished  families  in  France  and  since  represented  in  the 
jDublic  life  and  campaigns  of  the  country.  O'Brien  was  created 
Marshal  of  France  and  Commander  of  Languedoc;  McMahon, 
a  Marquis  and  Knight  of  Saint  Louis;  Dillon  was  created  a  vis- 
count of  the  same  rank  as  Turrenne;  Lally  was  made  Governor 
of  Pondicherry;  Roche,  Viscount  of  Fermoj^;  and  so  with  many 
others. 

French  recruiting  for  the  brigade  was  carried  on  systemat- 
ically in  the  south  and  west  of  Ireland  long  after  the  survivors 
of  Limerick  had  fired  their  last  shot.    In  the  war  of  the  succes- 
sion the  chief  glory  of  the  brigade  was  the  defense  of  Cremona 
and  their  share  in  the  fierce  battles  of  Blenheim  and  Ramillies. 
On   the  latter  battlefield  O'Brien,   Lord  Clare,  fell  mortally 
wounded,  leaving  after  him  a  son  to  conquer  at  Fontenoy.    Riva 
surrendered  to  Dillon,  and  Alsira  to  O'Mahoney.    On  the  field 
of  Almanza,  March  13,  1707 — a  date  that  English  historians  find 
it  very  agreeable  to  overlook — the  French  and  Irish  killed  three 
thousand  of  the  Anglo-Dutch  forces  and  took  ten  thousand 
l^risoners  and  one  hundred  and  twenty  stands  of  colors..    This 
battle  compelled  Queen  Anne  to  dismiss  Marlborough  and  ac- 
cept the  humiliating  peace  of  L^trecht.     But  the  hottest  and 
proudest  day  that  the  brigade  ever  saw  was  a  May  day  in  1745. 
The  French  army,  commanded  by  Saxe,  was  accompanied  by 
King  Louis, leaving  eighteen  thousand  men  to  besiege  Namur 
and  six  thousand  to  guard  the  Scheldt,  took  a  position  between 
the  river  and  the  British,  having  their  center  at  the  village  of 
Fontenoy.     The  British   and   Dutch  under   the   son  of  King 
George,    the   Duke   of   Cumberland,   were   fifty-five   thousand 
strong;  the  French,  fifty-five  thousand.     After  a  hard  day's 
fighting  and   the  slaughter  of  thousands,  victory  seemed   to 
declare  against  France,  and  King  Louis,  who  was  present,  pre- 
pared for  flight.    At  this  moment  Marshal  Saxe  ordered  a  final 
charge  by  the  seven  Irish  regiments  under  O'Brien,  Count  Tho- 
mond.     The  tide  was  turned  again  to  the  cry  of  "Remember 
Limerick."    France  was  delivered,  England  humbled,  and  Hol- 
land reduced  from  a  first  to  a  second  rate  power  upon  that  day, 
largely  by  Irish  valor  and  Irish  bravery.    With  utter  self  abne- 
gation they  flung  themselves  upon  the  enemy.   They  smote  them 
like  a  devouring  torrent,  but  on  the  conquered  field  their  blood 
was  shed  like  rain.     One-fourth  of  all  the  officers,  including 
Dillon,  were  killed,  and  one-third  of  all  the  men. 

Until  Austerlitz.  Fontenoy  stood  unequalled  in  military 
historv.    But  the  brave  brigade  never  recovered  its  lost  blood 


244        IRELAND'S   CONTRIBUTION   TO   EUROPEAN   COUNTRIES 

upon  that  field.  To  the  last  the  remnant  kept  their  colors  and 
their  reputation.  In  Germany  with  Saxe,  in  the  far  East  with 
Lally,  in  Canada  with  Montcalm,  the  last  of  that  heroic  brother- 
hood fought  until  they  died.  Their  favorite  leaders  all  fell  on 
the  field:  McCarthy,  Sarsfield,  the  two  O'Briens,  and  the  two 
Dillons  died  in  battle,  and  all  victorious  over  England.  When 
in  1745  the  news  of  the  battle  of  Fontenoy  reached  King  George 
he  exclaimed  in  the  bitterness  of  his  disappointment:  "Cursed 
be  the  laws  that  deprived  me  of  such  subjects. ' ' 

After  the  French  Kevolution,  during  the  Consulate  and  the 
Empire,  the  war  records  of  the  Irish  in  France  were  no  less  re- 
markable. Napoleon  found  two  generals  and  five  colonels,  to 
say  nothing  of  numerous  troops,  among  the  exiles  who  poured 
into  France  after  the  Irish  rebellion  in  1798.  After  the  Restora- 
tion most  of  these  men  remained  true  to  the  fallen  Napoleon^ 
but  a  new  line  of  French-Irish  descendants  of  the  men  of  the 
Brigade  rose  into  prominence.  An  Irish  count  was  the  last  to 
draw  sword  for  the  Bourbons  in  1791,  while  an  Irish  general 
stood  by  them  to  the  end  in  1830. 

Among  the  most  distinguished  Irish  families  in  France  dur- 
ing the  middle  of  the  last  century  were  the  MacMahons.  They 
were  Irish  Catholics  who  maintained  their  allegiance  to  the 
Stuarts,  and  thus  came  to  settle  in  France.  The  most  conspicu- 
ous member  of  this  family,  the  famous  Marshal  MacMahon,  was 
born  at  Sully  (Saone  et  Loire)  in  1808.  His  father  had  been 
made  a  peer  by  Charles  X,  whose  personal  friend  he  was.  The 
boy  was  educated  at  St.  Cyr  and  then  entered  the  army  and  went 
to  Algeria  where  he  saw  hard  service  for  several  years.  He  had 
risen  to  the  rank  of  Brigadier-General  when  the  revolution  of 
1848  broke  out  and  after  that  date  he  was  promoted  in  swift 
succession ;  he  became  general  of  division  in  1852  and  was  made 
Grand  Officer  of  the  Legion  of  Honor  in  the  following  year;  he 
was  in  command  of  infantry  under  Bosquet  in  the  Crimea  and 
was  made  Grand  Cross  of  the  Legion  and  senator  for  his  part  in 
the  assault  of  the  Malakoff,  and  finally  Commander-in-Chief  of 
the  forces  in  Algeria.  He  won  his  greatest  military  honor,  how- 
ever, when  in  command  of  the  second  army  corps  of  the  Alps,  in 
1859,  at  the  battle  of  Magenta.  After  the  battle  he  was  made 
Duke  of  Magenta  and  Marshal  of  France  by  the  Emperor  Na- 
poleon III.  Two  years  later,  in  1861,  he  represented  the  emper- 
or at  the  coronation  of  William  III  of  Prussia,  and  in  1864 
he  became  Governor-General  of  Algeria.  In  1870  he  command- 
ed the  army  from  Chalons  to  Sedan,  and  was  wounded  just  in 
time  to  be  free  from  the  responsibility  of  the  surrender.  After 
the  fall  of  M.  Thiers  in  the  spring  of  1873,  this  great  Irishman 


DR.  GEORGE  McALEER  245 

was  elected  President  of  France,  a  position  which  he  filled  with 
ability,  dignity,  force  and  tact  until  June,  1879. 

The  following  extract  from  a  lecture  by  Sir  Charles  Gavan 
Duffy,  in  Melbourne,  gives  an  idea  of  the  position  of  the  Irish- 
men in  France  during  the  Presidency  of  Marshal  MacMahon: 
"In  the  drawing-room  of  the  President  of  the  French  Kepublic, 
who  is  the  natural  head  of  the  exiled  families,  I  met  descendants 
of  Irish  chiefs,  who  took  refuge  on  the  continent  at  the  time  of 
the  Plantation  of  Ulster  by  the  first  Stuart;  descendants  of 
Irish  soldiers  who  sailed  from  Limerick  with  Sarsfield,  or  a  little 
later  with  the  ''Wild  Geese"  (Jacobites) ;  of  Irish  soldiers  who 
shared  the  fortunes  of  Charles  Edward  (the  "Young  Pretend- 
er"); of  Irish  peers  and  gentlemen  to  whom  life  in  Ireland 
without  a  career  became  intolerable  in  the  dark  era  between 
the  fall  of  Limerick  and  the  rise  of  Henry  Grattan;  and  kins- 
men of  soldiers  of  a  later  date,  who  began  life  United  Irishmen 
and  ended  as  staff*  officers  of  Napoleon.  Who  can  measure  what 
was  lost  to  Ireland  and  the  British  Empire  by  driving  these  men 
and  their  descendants  into  the  armies  and  diplomacy  of  France? 
All  of  them  except  the  men  of  '98  have  become  so  French  that 
they  scarce  speak  any  other  language.  There  is  a  Saint  Pat- 
rick's Day  dinner  in  Paris  every  17th  of  March,  where  the 
company  consists  chiefly  of  military  and  civil  officers  of  Irish 
descent  who  commemorate  the  national  apostle  but  where  the 
language  of  the  speeches  is  French  because  no  other  would  be 
generally  understood.  I  reproached  a  gallant  young  soldier  of 
this  class,  whom  I  met  in  Paris,  with  having  relinquished  the 
link  of  a  common  language  with  the  native  soil  of  his  race. 
"Monsieur,"  he  replied,  proudly,  "when  my  ancestors  left  Ire- 
land they  would  have  scorned  to  accept  the  language  any  more 
than  the  laws  of  England ;  they  spoke  the  native  Gaelic. ' ' 

In  1585,  Queen  Elizabeth  raised  a  forced  levy  of  1500  Irish 
troops  to  fight  against  the  Spaniards  in  the  Lowlands.  As  might 
be  expected,  these  troops,  which  were  led  by  Sir  Edward  Stan- 
ley, an  English  Catholic,  took  the  first  opportunity  to  exchange 
the  service  of  Queen  Elizabeth  for  that  of  the  Catholic  King  of 
Spain.  Stanley's  corps  distinguished  itself  in  many  battles 
and  "though  young  troops,  displayed  the  steadiness  of  veter- 
ans and  a  spirit  of  gallantry  not  surpassed  even  in  that  military 
age." 

In  the  seventeenth  century  the  Irish  were  at  the  capture 
of  Orsoy  and  the  siege  of  Rhinberg.  In  1599  they  fought  under 
Cardinal  Andrew  of  Austria,  governor  of  the  Netherlands. 
They  continued  to  serve  in  the  Netherlands  until  the  peace  of 
1609  between  the  States  and  the  Archduke  Albert,  sharing  in  the 


246        IRELAND'S   CONTRIBUTION   TO   EUROPEAN   COUNTRIES 

capture  of  Ostend  and  Grave,  and  everywhere  fighting  with  ex- 
treme bravery.  When  Charles  II  of  England  was  an  exile  on 
the  continent  there  were  several  Irish  regiments  in  the  service 
of  Spain  and  France.  One  of  these  was  commanded  by  Eichard 
Grace  of  Gracefield  in  Queen's  County;  Justin  McCarthy,  Lord 
Muskerry,  afterwards  Lord  Mountcashel,  commanded  another 
regiment;  Sir  John  Darcy  led  a  third. 

Three  times  during  the  eighteenth  century  meii  of  Irish 
race  were  ambassadors  of  Spain  at  the  English  court.  Alex- 
ander O'Reilly,  afterwards  Spanish  ambassador  at  the  court  of 
Loui^  XVI,  was  governor  of  Cadiz.  "It  is  strange,"  said  Na- 
poleon, on  his  second  entry  into  Vienna  in  1809,  "that  on  each 
occasion  on  arriving  in  the  Austrian  capitol  I  should  find  myself 
in  treaty  with  Count  O'Reilly."  The  dragoon  regiment  led  by 
the  same  Count  O'Reilly  saved  the  remnants  of  the  Austrians 
at  Austerlitz.  The  Blakes,  O'Donnells,  and  Sarsfields  were 
equally  famous  in  Spain.  O'Donnell,  Duke  of  Tetuan,  was  a 
dominant  figure  in  Spanish  politics  during  the  middle  of  the 
nineteenth  century. 

The  O'Neil,  Count  de  Tyrone,  writing  of  the  Irish  in  Portu- 
gal, says:  "Here  also  the  Irish  blood  is  in  great  favor  since 
more  than  two  centuries.  Among  dukes  and  barons,  ministers, 
judges,  lawyers,  high-reputed  officers  in  the  army  and  navy, 
everywhere,  old  Irish  names  are  to  be  met  with,  and  the  names 
of  0"'Donnell,  O'Neil,  O'Daly,  de  la  Poer,  Kelly,  Fitzgerald,  0'- 
Meagher,  Sarsfield,  O'Farrell  and  many  others  are  repeatedly 
met  with  in  our  history.  An  O'Neil,  Count  Santa  Monica,  was 
the  tutor  of  the  king,  Don  Carlos,  and  the  family  enjoys  a  high 
position  at  coin-t.  The  Duchess  of  Saldana  is  a  Fitzgerald;  in 
fact  this  little  country  is  a  great  example  of  the  worth  of  Irish 
blood." 

Another  prominent  writer  and  publicist  records  that: 
"Within  a  century  the  great  Leinster  house  of  Kavanagh 
counted  in  Europe  an  aulic  councillor,  a  governor  of  Prague,  a 
field-marshal  at  Vienna,  a  field-marshal  in  Poland,  a  grand 
chamberlain  in  Saxony,  a  count  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire, 
a  French  Conventionist  in  1793,  Godefroy  Cavaignac,  co-editor 
with  Armand  Carrell  and  Eugene  Cavaignac  sometime  dictator 
in  France,  and  Edward  Cavanagh,  minister  of  Portugal. 

Russia  found  among  the  exiles  a  governor-general  of  Liv- 
onia. Count  Thomond  was  commander  at  Languedoc.  Lally 
was  governor  at  Pondicherry;  O'Dwyer  was  commander  at  Bel- 
grade; Lacy,  of  Ruga;  Lawless,  governor  of  Majorca.  Count,, 
Taafe  is  another  of  the  Irish  rulers  of  nations.  Descended  from 
a  distinguished  Sligo  family,  he  was  for  years  a  commanding 


DR.  GEORGE  McALEER  247 

figure  iu  Aiistro-Himgariau  politics.  Count  Taafe  was  also  a 
Knight  of  the  Golden  Fleece,  a  Knight  of  Malta,  and  a  Knight 
of  St.  John.  Baron  O'Carrell  attained  to  distinguished  prom- 
inence in  Austrian  diplomatic  service.  In  the  Austrian  army 
there  were  also  a  Baron  0  'Brien,  a  Baron  Brady,  a  Baron  Mc- 
Guire,  and  a  Count  0  'Kelly,  as  well  as  many  other  distinguished 
officers  of  Celtic  descent. 

Many  Irishmen  were  counts  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire. 
Among  these  were  Count  0 'Gorman,  Count  Eussell,  Count 
Moore,  and  Count  Cecil-Kearney.  In  Russia  the  family  of  Gen- 
eral Obrutscheft"  is  descended  from  the  Irish  O'Bryans,  just  as 
the  Odontschefi's  are  descended  from  the  O'Donnells." 

The  recognized  ability  and  distinguished  achievements  of 
[rishmen  upon  battle-fields  in  other  lands  are  too  great  and  too 
brilliant  to  escape  the  attention  of  the  pseudo-historian  and 
arch-enemy  of  Ireland,  of  Irishmen,  and  of  everything  Irish, 
the  late  James  Anthony  Froude.  In  his  historical  works  he 
records :  ' '  The  Irishman  of  the  last  century  rose  to  his  natural 
level  whenever  he  was  removed  from  his  own  unhappy  c5untry. 
In  the  seven  years'  war  Austria's  best  generals  were  Irishmen. 
Brown  was  an  Irishman,  Lacy  was  an  Irishman,  O'Donnell's 
name  speaks  for  him,  and  Lally  Tollendall  who  punished  Eng- 
land at  Fontenoy  was  O'Mullaly  of  Tollendall.  Strike  the 
names  of  Irishmen  out  of  our  public  service  and  we  lose  the  he- 
roes of  our  proudest  exploits — we  lose  the  Wellesleys,  the  Pal- 
lisers,  the  Moores,  the  Eyres,  the  Coates,  the  Napiers;  we  lose 
half  the  officers  and  half  the  privates  who  conquered  India  for 
us  and  who  fought  our  battles  in  the  Peninsula.  What  the  Irish 
could  do  as  enemies  we  were  about  to  learn  when  the  Ulster 
Exiles  crowded  to  the  standard  of  Washington.    What  they  can 

be,  even  at  home,  we  know  at  this  present  hour 

It  was  Celtic  valor  that  bore  down  the  Roman  in  the  defile  of 
Thrasymene,  on  the  disastrous  field  of  Cannae;  nor  was  it  until 
Caesar  carried  the  ten  years  exterminating  war  into  the  home 
of  the  Celts  that  the  contest  of  four  centuries  was  decid- 
ed." 

To  more  fully  understand  and  appreciate  the  difficulties 
and  dangers  of  the  task  that  Ireland  undertook  in  early  times 
for  the  enlightenment  and  uplift  of  other  nations  in  the  halls  of 
learning,  in  the  sanctuaries,  and  on  the  battle-fields  of  Europe 
— the  formative  period  of  their  present  enlightenment,  civiliza- 
tion and  importance  in  the  affairs  of  the  world — and  that  we 
may  more  fully  realize  the  burning  zeal,  daring  bravery,  and 
Christian  charity  that  prompted  the  missionaries  and  scholars, 
like  the  apostles  of  old,  to  undertake  the  work  of  evangelization 


24  8        IRELAND'S   CONTRIBUTION   TO   EUROPEAN   COUNTRIES 

and  civilization  among  the  erncle,  uncivilized,  and  marauding 
hordes  that  overran  Europe,  destroying  Roman  civilization, 
and  disrupted  society  as  would  a  devastating  plague,  it  may  be 
well  to  consider,  however  briefly  in  the  time  at  my  disposal, 
the  then  existing  disorganized  condition  of  society  throughout 
Europe,  an  age  when  might  made  right,  and 

''When  it  was  the  plan 
To  let  him  take  who  might 
And  let  him  keep  who  can." 

It  will  readily  be  recalled  that  for  a  period  of  upwards  of  one 
thousand  years,  Roman  arms  and  Roman  civilization  dominated 
this  portion  of  the  world.  During  the  fifth  century  many  of 
the  modern  monarchies  of  Europe  had  their  commencement,  the 
empire  of  the  east  having  been  about  that  period  brought  to  the 
very  verge  of  ruin  by  the  innumerable  hosts  of  l^arbarians  from 
the  north  which  poured  in  upon  it  and  at  length  subdued  it  by 
the  overthrow  of  Roman  domination  in  the  year  476.  The  van- 
dals, the  Suevi  and  the  Alans  were  the  first  insurgents.  These 
were  soon  followed  by  the  Visigoths,  Burgundians,  Germans, 
Franks,  Lombards,  Angles,  Saxons  and  Huns.  These  roving 
plunderers  and  depredators,  taking  different  routes  and  armed 
with  fire  and  sword,  soon  destroyed  nearly  every  vestige  of 
Roman  ci\T-lization,  subjected  to  their  yoke  the  terrified  victims 
of  their  ferocity,  and  erected  their  conquests  into  kingdoms. 

The  Visigoths,  after  having  driven  out  the  Vandals,  de- 
stroyed the  Alans,  subdued  the  Suevi,  and  founded  a  new  king- 
dom in  Spain.  The  Angles  and  Saxons  made  a  conquest  of 
Britain  from  the  Romans  and  natives,  and  the  seven  maraud- 
ing groups  set  up  seven  kingdoms  in  England  under  their  re- 
spective leaders,  which  period  is  known  in  English  histor^^  as 
the  heptarchy  or  seven  kingdoms. 

The  Huns  established  themselves  in  Pannonia  and  the  Ger- 
mans on  the  banks  of  the  Danube.  The  Heroli  after  having  de- 
stroyed the  Western  Empire,  founded  a  government  in  Italy 
which  continued  but  a  short  time,  being  driven  out  by  the  Os- 
trogoths. Justinian  retook  Italy  from  the  Ostrogoths.  The 
greater  part  of  Italy  soon  after  fell  under  the  power  of  the  Lom- 
bards, who  formed  it  into  a  kingdom.  The  exarchate  of  Raven- 
na, raised  by  them  to  the  Empire  of  the  East,  enjoyed  it  but  a 
short  time.  The  exarchate  being  conquered  by  Charlemagne 
was  settled  by  him  on  the  Pope,  which  may  be  regarded  as  the 
origin  of  the  temporal  power. 

Numerous  bodies  of  people  from  different  countries,  having 


DR.  GEORGE  McALEER  249 

taken  possession  of  Ganl,  founded  therein  several  liingdoms 
which  were  eventually  united  by  the  Franks  under  the  name  of 
France.  Pharamond  was  the  first  monarch;  and  under  Clovis 
it  attained  considerable  eminence.  Pe]3in  expelled,  in  the  per- 
son of  Cliilderic  III,  the  race  of  Pharamond,  called  the  Merovin- 
gian, from  the  throne  and  assumed  the  reins  of  government. 
His  son,  Charlemagne,  the  greatest  ])rince  of  his  time,  retrieved 
the  honor  of  France,  destroyed  the  Lombardian  monai'chy,  and 
renewed  the  glory  of  the  Empire  of  the  West,  being  himself 
crowned  emperor  by  the  Pope  at  Rome.  Under  Charlemagne 
France  was  the  most  powerful  and  brilliant  kingdom  of  Eu- 
rope; all  the  other  monarchies  were  eclipsed  by  the  lustre  of  this 
new  kingdom. 

Spain  was  sul)dued  by  the  Saracens  who  founded  a  new 
kingdom  in  the  mountains  of  Asturias.  The  many  contests 
between  the  Christians  and  Moors  for  supremacy  laid  waste < 
this  beautiful  country  during  many  years,  until  victory  crowned 
the  Christian  arms  at  the  famous  battle  of  Lepanto  and  the 
Moors  were  driven  out  of  Spain. 

Lecky,  in  his  History  of  European  Morals,  assures  his  read- 
ers that  the  conflicts  of  these  many  races  and  the  paralysis  of 
all  government  followed  the  fall  of  the  Roman  Empire  made 
force  everywhere  dominant,  and  petty  wars  incessant.  Within 
a  century  of  the  death  of  Mohamet  his  followers  had  almost  ex- 
tirpated Christianity  from  its  birth-place  and  early  home  in  the 
East,  founded  great  monarchies  in  Asia  and  Africa,  planted 
their  conquering  banners  upon  many  of  the  strongholds  of 
Spain,  threatened  the  overthrow  of  Western  Europe  and  to  es- 
tablish Islamism  upon  the  ruins  of  Christianity  and  Roman  civ- 
ilization. The  rapid  growth  and  spread  of  Mohamedanism  had 
aroused  justifiable  consternation  bordering  upon  panic  through- 
out the  Christian  world.  These  various  clashing  races  and 
tribes  who  then  formed  the  chief  portion  of  the  population,  had 
no  written  literature  before  their  conversion  to  Christianity  and 
hence  they  adopted  the  learning  and  assimilated  the  civilization 
of  the  country  from  whence  came  the  missionaries  who  were 
their  teachers  and  civilizers.  Irish  monks  were  the  first  as  they 
were  the  most  numerous  and  most  successful  laborers  in  the 
work  of  bringing  order  out  of  chaos ;  in  teaching  these  barbarous 
and  profligate  hordes  their  dependence  upon  and  accountability 
to  the  Omnipotent  Jehovah;  in  teaching  them  the  dignity  and 
responsibility  of  worthy  manhood;  in  teaching  them  their  duty 
to  themselves  and  to  their  fellow-men;  in  teaching  them  the 
basid  principles  of  organized  society  and  the  blessings  of  fixed 
forms  of  government  established  upon  a  Christian  foundation. 


250        IRELAND'S   CONTRIBUTION   TO    EUROPEAN   COUNTRIES 

The  student,  the  scholar,  the  statesman,  and  the  tlioughtful 
may  now  well  consider  what  might  have  been  the  consequences 
—not  only  to  Europe  but  also  to  the  world — had  Mohamedaii- 
ism  then  overrun  Europe  and  planted  its  triumphant  banners 
upon  its  citadels  and  outposts  and  subordinated  those  Teutonic 
and  other  tribes  who  so  often  changed  their  creeds  and  upon 
whom  the  course  of  civilization  has  since  so  largely  depended— 
had  Islamism  triumphed  and  the  cross  been  made  subservient 
to  the  crescent — and  also  the  debt  of  appreciation  and  gratitude 
due  to  those  who  so  bravely  repulsed  the  Mohamedan  hordes 
upon  many  bloody  battle-fields  and  thus  aided  in  giving  Christ- 
ianity, learning,  the  knowledge  of  scientific  agriculture,  and 
civilized  government  not  only  to  the  nations  of  Europe  but  also 
through  them  to  the  world  at  large,  and  which  still  survive 
with  all  their  blessings.  In  this  great  and  glorious  work  of 
evangelization  and  civilization,  as  already  shown,  Irish  monks, 
Irish  scholars,  and  Irish  soldiers  had  distinguished  prominence 
and  success — and  this  to  their  undying  praise  and  glory  is  what 
Irishmen  did  for  the  other  nations  of  Europe  and  also  for  the 
world,  the  glorious  records  of  which  adorn  the  most  glorious 
pages  in  the  annals  of  Time. 

Such  in  barest  outline  is  a  sketch  of  the  origin  of  the  mod- 
ern nations  of  Europe  and  of  the  period  when  our  ancestors  so 
generously  and  so  successfully  planted  the  seed  and  gathered 
the  bountiful  harvest  of  Christianity  and  civilization  from  such 
a  barren  and  unpromising  field  and  from  such  untoward  people 
and  repulsive  surroundings.  As  I  stated  in  my  opening,  that  to 
be  just,  century  and  period  must  be  compared  with  a  corres- 
ponding century  and  period;  and  applying  this  rule  in  the  pres- 
ent instance  and  comparing  Ireland  in  Christianity,  civilization, 
intellectual  attainments  and  the  refinements  of  life,  with  corres- 
ponding centuries  and  periods  of  the  other  nations  of  Europe 
from  the  fifth  to  the  eighth  century  will  be  like  comparing  the 
brilliancy  of  the  noonday  sun  with  the  darkness  of  midnight. 

I  have  necessarily  but  briefly  touched  upon  some  of  the 
more  brilliant,  glorious  and  beneficent  achievements  of  Irish- 
men in  varied  and  important  walks  of  life  in  other  European 
countries  which  not  only  do  credit  to  themselves  but  also  to  the 
land  of  their  nativity  or  ancestry,  but  which  perverse  and  in- 
iquitous prejudice  and  unchristian  malevolence  have  too  long 
ignored  or  misrepresented  in  the  pages  of  so-called  history  and 
literature,  and  thus  withheld  from  the  knowledge  of  the  world 
at  large. 

It  is  an  interesting  subject  of  speculation,  though  a  melan- 
choly one,  to  consider  what  the  history  of  Ireland  might  have 


DR.  GEORGE  McALEER  251 

been  had  all  those  men  of  genius  and  force  been  free  to  use 
their  great  powers  for  the  betterment  of  their  native  comitrj', 
or  the  country  of  their  ancestors,  instead  of  spending  their  lives 
as  exiles  in  foreign  lands.  It  should  be  a  matter  of  pride  as 
Avell  as'  of  duty  for  all  through  whose  veins  courses  rich  Celtic 
blood  to  teach  their  children,  or  to  insist  that  they  be  taught  in 
the  schools  which  they  attend,  the  story  of  the  triumphs  and 
glories,  the  joys  and  sorrows,  the  aspirations  and  hopes  of  Innis- 
fail.  A  new  day  dawns  that  gives  promise  of  a  more  hopeful 
future — a  day  when  the  learning  and  civilization  of  the  scholar 
will  be  blended  with  the  bravery  of  the  soldier  and  the  states- 
manship of  th^  patriot — a  day  that  will  bring  back  the  old-time 
achievements  and  glory  of  Ireland  and  give  her  again  command- 
ing prominence  and  honor  among  the  nations  of  the  world. 


Hon.  John  T.  Duggan,  M.  D. 


Dr.  John  T,  Duggan  was  born  in  Worcester,  Mass., 
June  30,  1855,  son  of  Walter  H.  Duggan  and  Julia  M. 
(Collopy)  Duggan.  His  early  education  was  received 
in  the  public  schools.  He  attended  Holy  Cross  College, 
and  was  graduated  in  1880.  He  studied  at  Bellevue 
Hospital  Medical  College,  New  York,  and  graduated  in 
1883.  The  same  year  he  received  the  degree  of  A.  M. 
from  Holy  Cross  College. 

Dr.  Duggan  served  as  a  member  of  the  Worcester 
School  Committee  for  twelve  years  and  was  twice 
elected  vice  chairman  of  that  body.  He  was  Mayor  of 
AVorcester  in  1906  and  1907.  In  June,  1906,  he  received 
the  degree  of  LL.  D.  from  his  Alma  Mater.  From  1893 
to  1898  he  was  chairman  of  the  United  States  Board  of 
Pensioning  Examiners. 

For  the  past  fifteen  years  Dr.  Duggan  has  been 
chairman  of  the  visiting  staff  of  St.  Vincent  Hospital, 
Worcester.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  Med- 
ical Society.  On  Oct.  27,  1885,  Dr.  Duggan  was  mar- 
ried to  Nellie  J.  Glastrick,  daughter  of  Patrick  and 
Mary  Glastrick,  both  natives  of  Dublin,  Ireland. 


Sulunh^B   ®ontributt0n  tn   Am^rtran 


-BY- 


HON.   JOHN  T.   DUGGAN 


It  lias  been  truly  said  "that  the  best  monument  to  a  great 
and  good  man  are  the  works  which  his  hand  and  his  head  have 
enriched  the  world. ' '  And  we  may  also  assume  that  tlie  great- 
est tribute  which  any  country  or  any  nation  can  bestow  upon 
an}^  of  its  citizens  is  a  just  appreciation  of  those  who  have  la- 
bored for  its  peace,  its  happiness  and  its  prosperity. 

It  is  an  indisputable  fact  that  too  often  historians,  w^io 
call  themselves  such,  are  sadly  lacking  in  those  fundamental 
qualities  of  impartiality,  fidelity  and  accuracy,  these  basal  qual- 
ifications that  lead  up  to  the  primary  end  of  history,  viz :  truth, 
and  which  should  be  recorded  as  such  for  the  instruction  of 
mankind. 

If  persuasion  is  the  office  of  the  orator  then  truth  is  the  es- 
sential i3rerequisite  of  the  writer  of  historical  narrative.  Fac- 
tion and  affection  must  be  strangers  to  his  pen.  Past  events 
and  characters  must  be  contemplated  with  a  cool  and  dispas- 
sionate eye  and  he  must  lay  before  his  readers  a  faithful  copy 
of  human  nature.  A  great  many  people  are  somewhat  incred- 
ulous if  they  are  not  in  possession  of  facts;  but  every  record  of 
facts,  however  true  the}''  may  be,  is  not  entitled  to  the  name  of 
history.  It  has  been  truly  said  that  the  biographies  of  men 
make  up  the  best  history  of  mankind;  but  if  we  read  the  pages 
of  many  of  the  histories  of  our  time  it  would  seem  as  though 
this  form  of  composition  was  sadly  neglected. 

History  is  more  thoroughly  appreciated  and  much  better 
understood  when  we  are  brought  face  to  face  with  the  person- 
al lives  of  the  men  who  played  the  principal  parts  in  the  ac- 
complishment of  great  and  noble  deeds,  and  who  sent  into  the 


254  IRELAND'S  CONTRIBUTION  TO   AMERICAN   PROGRESS 

great  swelling  stream  of  human  progress  their  silent  contribu- 
tions for  the  advancement  and  betterment  of  society. 

The  so-called  ''Dark  Ages"  were  given  that  name  for  the 
reason  that  writers  knew  little  or  nothing  of  the  individual 
lives  and  the  great  accomplishments  of  the  men  and  women  of 
that  time.  And  the  knowledge  of  these  ages  is  inculcated  into 
the  minds  of  school  children  and  students  of  history  as  periods 
when  everything  that  pertained  to  literature,  poetry  and  the 
arts  was  at  a  standstill,  when  nothing  flourished  and  everything 
portended  a  dark  and  dismal  outlook,  yet,  when  the  truthful 
historian,  the  imprejudiced  writer,  the  faithful  portrayer  of 
deeds  and  men  begins  to  collect  the  scattered  details  that  missed 
the  recognition  of  other  writers,  we  read  a  far  different  story, 
and  feel  that  in  the  very  heart  of  these  so-called  dark  ages, 
there  shone  a  galaxy  of  intellectual  lights  that  will  compare 
very  favorably  with  those  of  other  centuries. 

John  Euskin  said  "that  the  proper  estimation  of  the  ac- 
complishments of  a  period  in  human  history  can  only  be  ob- 
tained by  a  careful  study  of  three  books,  'The  Book  of  the 
Deeds,'  'The  Book  of  the  Acts,'  and  the  'Book  of  the  Words' 
of  the  given  epoch,"  and  before  passing  judgment  upon  the  ac- 
complishments of  the  men  of  this  greatly  misrepresented  ]:)eriod, 
it  would  be  well  for  the  students  of  history  to  familiarize  them- 
selves with  the  writings  of  those  men  who  have  told  the  story 
in  an  impartial,  faithful  and  accurate  manner.  It  is  in  this  way 
that  we  can  form  a  just  estimate  of  what  they  contributed  to 
the  world's  progress,  both  in  science,  literature  and  the  arts 
and  which  commands  the  appreciation  and  respect  of  every  suc- 
ceeding generation  since  that  time. 

"The  records  of  ]nost  people  are  embraced  within  a  nation- 
al aspect  and  they  have  affected  the  world's  history  and  their 
own  destiny  mainly  in  their  aggregate  capacity."  How  differ- 
ent the  history  of  that  race  of  people  whose  homes  and  whose 
firesides  were  in  that  little  Green  Isle  of  the  sea.  They  had  to 
be  content  with  having  their  deeds  and  noble  achievements  re- 
corded through  the  lives  of  their  children,  who  were  exiles  in 
every  region  of  the  globe  for  years  and  years,  either  through  a 
desire  for  liberty  or  the  direful  pangs  of  absolute  necessity. 
The  glory  and  the  accomplishments  of  Ireland's  sons  and 
daughters  must  take  the  place  of  the  history  of  the  Irish  race 
and  prove  to  the  world  that  the  accusations  trumped  up  against 
them  were  only  circumvented  by  treachery,  deceit,  perjury  and 
fraud.  The  biographies  of  the  sons  of  this  gallant  race  emphat- 
ically prove  that  when  they  took  up  their  abode  in  foreign 
lands,  their  unequalled  valor,  and  matchless  ability  chiseled 


HON.   JOHN  T.   DUGGAN  255 

out  a  new  destiny  and  founded  new  nations  and  even  after  all 
this,  tliey  have  been  robbed  as  a  race  of  the  credit  and  name  of 
the  work  of  their  honest  endeavors.  The  history  of  the  world 
has  never  yet  recorded  a  race  of  people  that  have  been  treated 
with  more  malevolence,  hatred  and  ill  will  than  those  who  pro- 
fess and  who  will  always  hold  dear,  a  love  for  the  green  flag  of 
Erin. 

The  sons  of  Ireland  have  been  maligned,  misunderstood 
and  slandered  as  to  their  credit  and  character,  and  robbed  of 
all  that  was  near  and  dear  to  them.  And,  at  this  time,  we  want 
to  say  that  "the  solution  of  the  problem  of  remedying  Ireland's 
wrongs  was  never  referred  to  the  people  of  the  two  countries. 
For,  if  the  settlement  of  this  momentous  question  was  left  to 
the  common  people  of  England  and  to  the  common  people  of 
Ireland,  long  ago,  it  would  have  been  adjusted  in  a  manner  sat- 
isfactory and  mutually  agreeal^le. "  "For,  in  the  ^'^ar  1885, 
when  the  common  people  of  England,  for  the  first  time  in  that 
country,  became  a  factor  in  her  political  life,  two  millions  of 
English  workingmen  exercised  their  right  of  franchise  by  pos- 
itively preventing  the  Tory  government  from  putting  into  force 
another  Coercion  Act  in  Ireland,  framed  for  the  sole  purpose  of 
catering  to  the  whims  and  caprices  of  a  tyrannical  landlord- 
ism." On  the  contrary:  As  a  distinguished  writer  once  said, 
"the  Irish  people  have  nothing  to  fear,  but  everything  to  hope, 
from  the  common  people  of  Great  Britain."  "It  is  not  the  sea, 
hut  the  separate  ])ool  that  rots,  and  so  it  is  not  the  common 
people  but  the  se]^arated  class  of  humanity  that  rots."  The 
Aristocrat,  the  fellow  on  horseback,  don't  you  know,  the  fellow 
peering  out  through  the  monocle,  and  wishing  to  be  monarch 
of  all  he  surveys,  who  has  ruled  Europe  for  centuries,  the  un- 
adulturated  essence  of  all  that  is  contained  in  a  mean  and  de- 
spicable snobbery.  In  the  North  American  Eeview  for  Janu- 
ary, 1886,  there  appeared  an  article  from  the  pen  of  the  late 
lamented  John  Boyle  O'Beilly,  in  which  he  wrote  a  graphic 
summary  of  Ireland's  long  struggle  for  National  independence: 

"A  hundred  years  ago,"  he  said,  "Ireland  was  in  the  most 
deplorable  condition  that  any  civilized  nation  ever  descended 
to.  Six  centuries  of  a  violent  struggle  had  wasted  her  blood, 
her  money  and  her  resources;  her  people  were  disfranchised; 
no  man  voted  in  Ireland  except  those  of  the  English  colony. 
For  a  hundred  preceding  years  the  teacher  and  priest  had  been 
hunted  felons.  There  were  only  four  million  Irish  altogether, 
and  they  were  nearly  all  in  Ireland.  Friendless,  voiceless,  vote- 
less, landless,  powerless,  disarmed,  disorganized,  ignorant,  for- 
gotten by  the  world,  misreported  and  misrepresented  by  their 


256  IRELAND'S   CONTRIBUTION  TO  AMERICAN   PROGREdS 

rich  and  powerful  enemy  and  held  up  in  English  books,  news- 
papers, schools  at  home  and  abroad  as  a  race  of  wild,  weak^ 
witty,  quarrelsome,  purposeless  incapables.  But  even  in  his 
blood  and  rags  and  wretchedness,  the  Irishman  was  still  un- 
subdued, still  a  free  man  in  soul  and  a  foeman  to  act.  It  seems 
very  strange  that  the  general  view  of  Ireland  and  the  Irish 

The  Druids  may  have  used  the  mlater  as  temples,  or  as  al- 
question  is  looked  upon  as  a  purely  sentimental  one,  when,  in 
reality,  it  is  one  of  the  most  material  and  practical.  The  false 
characteristics  that  have  been  attributed  to  the  Irish  race  by 
an  unfriendly  nation  implied  that  they  could  not  govern  them- 
selves if  they  had  opportunity.  But  this  is  always  the  tribute 
which  injustice  pays  to  morality.  The  only  way  a  man  can 
stand  well  in  any  community  is,  after  he  has  injured  his  brother 
man,  to  assail  his  character.  This  must  be  done  in  order  that 
his  own  action  may  be  justified."  But,  howsoever  true  this 
ma^^  be.  Irishmen  and  the  sons  and  daughters  of  Irishmen  have 
proven  to  the  world  that,  notwithstanding  all  the  grievous 
wrongs  they  have  suffered,  all  the  contumilies  which  have  been 
heaped  upon  them,  and  all  the  inhuman  atrocities  to  which  they 
have  been  subjected,  they  have  distinguished  themselves,  to 
whatever  part  of  the  world  they  have  gone,  by  their  intellectu- 
al, as  well  as  by  their  physical  superiority. 

The  small  stream  of  Irish  emigration  that  began  to  flow 
westward  previous  to  the  last  century,  had  swollen  in  later 
years  to  the  vast  proportions  of  a  torrent;  and  while  we  fully 
realize  that  a  great  number  took  up  their  burdens  in  lands  other 
than,  America,  it  seems,  in  a  way  providential,  that  those  who 
came  here  had  a  forecast  and  were  influenced  by  some  unseen 
hand  that  blended  their  choice  with  Ireland's  early  historic 
memorials  in  the  past;  for,  whether  we  take  nebulous  tradition 
seriously  or  otherwise,  we  must  admit  that  it  has  certain  truth- 
ful bearings  on  the  real  facts  of  history. 

The  fame  of  St.  Brendan's  adventures,  long  before  the  dis- 
covery of  America  by  Columbus,  has  been  told  in  song  and  le- 
gend, and  even  reached  to  far-away  Asia. 

One  of  three  books  that  were  most  read  in  the  13tli  cen- 
tury, "The  Golden  Legend,"  contained  an  article  of  St.  Bren- 
dan's Land.  The  old  Scandinavian  chronicle,  called  the  "Land- 
namabok"  was  completed  in  the  13th  century  and  apparently 
from  older  documents.  This  was  the  "Book  of  Iceland's  Ori- 
gin," and  from  the  fact  that  the  early  Irish  navigators  had  fre- 
quent intercourse  with  the  Northmen  of  Iceland  and  Scandin- 
avia, both  sharing  equally  the  hazardous  occupation  of  hardy 
sea-faring  men,  the  Northmen  attribute  the  honor  of  a  first 


HON.  JOHN  T.  DUGGAN  257 

discovery  of  America  to  Ireland  and  Irishmen,  and  foreshad- 
owing the  great  land  as  a  colonial  dependency,  justly  belong- 
ing to  the  country  of  their  birth,  the  Northern  Sagas  called  it 
by  the  name  of  * '  Great  Ireland. ' ' 

This  region  was  placed  in  the  western  ocean  and  westwards 
from  Ireland,  and  what  we  now  call  the  country  of  the  Eskimo, 
Labrador  and  Nova  Scotia,  New  Foundland,  the  New  llngiand 
and  Southern  States  were  known  to  these  early  discoverers  by 
other  names.  Centuries  before  the  Spaniards  landed  in  Flor- 
ida, Irishmen  had  settled  in  that  southern  portion  of  North 
America,  and  introduced  a  civilization,  the  traces  of  which  still 
remain.  N.  Lu'dlow  Beamish,  in  his  book  entitled  ' '  The  Discov- 
ery of  America  by  the  Northmen  in  the  Tenth  Century,  with 
notices  of  the  early  settlements  of  the  Irish  in  the  Western 
Hemisphere,"  published  in  London,  1841,  and  consisting  of 
eight  volumes,  says  that  the  ancient  and  indigenous  remains 
found  in  Florida  indicate  such  a  conclusion. 

Away  back  in  the  eighth  century,  a  people  speaking  the 
Irish  language  was  found  in  the  Southern  parts  of  North 
America,  according  to  the  statement  of  Professor  Eafu,  of 
Copenhagen,  and  that  part  of  the  country  which  now  lies  along 
the  Eastern  coast,  stretching  from  Chesapeake  Bay  to  the  Caro- 
linas  and  Florida,  had  a  tradition  that  white  men  anciently 
occupied  that  region,  and  that  they  were  possessed  of  iron  im- 
plements ;  and  such  is  the  opinion  of  Baron  Von  Tschudi,  in  his 
work  on  Peruvian  Antiquities.  Moreover,  Lionel  Wafer  states 
that  there  was  a  wonderful  affinity  between  the  Irish  language 
and  that  spoken  by  the  Indian  people  living  on  the  Isthmus  of 
Panama.  He  relates  many  other  particulars  to  show  that  the 
western  continent  was  colonized  at  a  very  early  time  by  Irish 
people;  therefore,  it  was  to  the  land,  which  seemingly  was  dis- 
covered by  their  sires,  that  those  emigrants,  who  were  exiles 
from  their  own  home,  came  during  the  last  four  centuries,  and 
when  they  set  foot  on  the  soil  of  the  Western  continent,  they 
were  not  in  possession  of  a  very  great  amount  of  the  material 
things  of  this  world. 

First  came  the  advanced  guard  in  the  16th  and  17th  cen- 
turies, followed  later  by  that  great  army  of  emigrants  who  had 
girded  on  the  Armor  of  Faith  in  God,  Hope  in  His  Promises 
and  Charity  for  their  God  and  their  neighbor,  and  they  settled 
in  Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire  and  New  York,  Pennsylvan- 
ia, Maryland  and  the  Carolinas.  On  this  and  on  the  other  side 
of  the  ''Father  of  Waters,"  they  took  up  their  abode  with  a 
fixed  determination  and  a  true  nobility  of  purpose  to  carve 
out  their  own  destiny  in  a  land  where  the  ravs  of  God's  sun 


258        IRELAND'S   CONTRIBUTION      TO    AMERICAN   PROGRESS 

shone  through  an  atmosphere  of  freedom,  where  they  could 
prove  to  the  world  that  they  were  not  the  people  that  misrepre- 
sentation and  calumny  proclaimed  them  to  be,  but,  rather,  the 
representatives  and  the  apostles  of  a  true,  rational  liberty  ever 
recognizing  the  rights,  the  freedom  and  the  equality  before  the 
law  of  the  individual;  intolerant  of  absolutism,  despisers  of 
feudalism — neither  of  which  would  ever  gain  a  foot-hold  or  a 
habitation  among  the  exiled  Irish  Celt,  and  by  their  valor  and 
daring,  they  would  ever  strive  to  crush  the  ambitious  schemes 
of  any  hydra-headed  monster  who  was  averse  to  the  principle 
that  liberty  and  union  were  the  priceless  treasures  of  nations 
and  of  men. 

Long  before  the  Eevolution  representatives  of  Ireland 
were  numerous  in  the  American  Colonies. 

Some  people  are  possessed  with  the  idea  that  the  Irish 
people  had  little  to  do  with  the  early  settlement  of  America, 
that  the  original  stock  was  solely  puritanic,  at  least  one  would 
be  inclined  to  form  this  opinion  from  a  perusal  of  the  histories 
of  this  country.  In  the  year  1623,  only  three  years  after  the 
Pilgrim  fathers  landed  in  that  cold  and  wintry  December,  on 
the  desolate  short  of  Plymouth  Bay,  more  than  500  Irish  men 
and  women  were  transported  to  New  England  by  British  mer- 
chants. Over  three  hundred  years  ago  at  the  time  when  Henry 
VIII  became  a  Protestant,  his  firm  resolve  that  the  Irish  should 
be  Protestant  likewise,  resulted  in  his  reforming  process  which 
continued  for  a  hundred  years  and  for  the  accomplishment  of 
his  wicked  design,  his  chief  means  were  the  bullet,  the  rope  and 
tlie  slave  ship;  and  one  of  the  results  was  the  selling  into  slav- 
ery of  60,000  Irish  boys  and  girls  to  the  tobacco  planters  of  the 
West  Indies,  as  Sir  William  Petty  and  other  English  historians 
of  the  time  relate.  And  a  gentleman  from  the  Island  of  Ja- 
maica once  told  the  story  that  the  Negroes  in  that  country  used 
a  great  many  Gaelic  words.  And  an  Irish  writer  is  sponsor  for 
the  statement  that  in  four  years  over  6000  men  and  women 
were  shipped  to  America  by  English  merchants  as  a  result  of 
this  inhuman  edict. 

From  this  it  would  appear  that  the  settlement  of  this  coun- 
try was  not  all  one-sided.  Eeligious  libert^^  for  ourselves  was 
the  cry  of  the  Puritan  and  the  Hugenot ;  the  accumulation  of  the 
Almighty  dollar,  plying  the  fur  trade,  engrossed  the  minds  of 
the  Dutch;  Freedom" and  toleration  for  all  were  the  aspirations 
of  the  Celt,  and  as  has  been  truly  said,  ''from  out  the  colony  of 
Lord  Baltimore  was  first  heralded  the  glad  news  of  that  free- 
dom of  thought,  of  conscience  and  of  heart  which  is  the  glory 
of  America  todav. " , 


HON.  JOHN  T.  DUGGAN  259 

Others  among  the  early  settlers  were  the  Irish  School  Mas- 
ters who  for  generations  imparted  tuition  and  the  fruit  of  their 
labors  was  evident  in  the  great  number  of  their  pupils  who  at- 
tained positions  of  eminence  in  peace  and  in  war.  A  great  many 
of  the  patriots  in  the  war  of  the  E evolution  sat  at  the  feet  of 
Irish  teachers,  and  the  love  and  respect  which  was  shown  by 
these  pupils  for  their  tutors  contributed  in  no  small  manner 
to  their  future  achievements. 

In  1640  William  Collins  accompanied  a  party  of  refugees 
from  the  West  Indies  to  what  is  now  New  Haven,  Conn.  After 
a  time  these  refugees  scattered  in  different  directions  and  some 
of  them  returned  to  Ireland.  Collins  taught  school  in  Hartford 
for  a  while.  After  this,  honest  thinking  got  him  into  trouble 
in  Boston,  and  he  was  banished,  taking  up  his  residence  in 
Rhode  Island,  or  as  it  was  then  called,  Aquidneck.  He  married 
Faith  Hutchinson  and  in  1642  he  was  killed  by  the  Indians. 
Thomas  Dongan,  son  of  an  Irish 'Baronet,  was  appointed  Gov- 
ernor of  New  York  in  1683.  He  did  much  to  encourage  educa- 
tion. During  his  administration  a  Catholic  college  was  opened 
in  New  York  with  an  admirable  course  of  studies.  One  of  the 
first  scholars  in  America  in  his  day  was  Rev.  Francis  Allison, 
D.  D.,  who  was  born  in  Donegal,  Ireland,  in  1705.  Lossing  says 
of  this  Irish  Educator  that  ''His  chief  claim  to  honor  among 
men  is  that  he  was  the  tutor  of  a  large  number  of  Americans 
who  were  conspicuous  actors  in  the  events  of  the  Revolution 
that  accomplished  the  Independence  of  the  United  States. ' '  He 
came  to  America  in  1735  and  settled  in  Pennsylvania.  He  not 
only  taught  in  that  state  but  also  in  Connecticut  and  elsewhere. 
Charles  Thompson,  another  Irishman,  who  was  afterwards  per- 
manent secretary  of  the  Continental  Congress  and  a  sterling 
patriot,  was  one  of  the  pupils  of  this  brilliant  man. 

It  has  been  truly  said  of  Allison  that  he  was  one  of  the 
fathers  of  American  scholarship.  Among  the  military  instruct- 
ors to  the  patriots  was  Robert  Patterson,  a  native  of  Ireland, 
who,  in  1779,  was  made  Professor  of  Mathematics  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania.  He  was  also  the  fourth  director  of 
the  United  States  mint. 

Joseph  Story,  who  was  a  Judge  of  the  United  States  Su- 
preme Court,  was,  when  a  boy,  a  pupil  of  the  Irish  teacher 
Michael  Walsh,  who  was  the  author  of  a  Mercantile  Arithmetic 
and  a  New  System  of  Bookkeeping,  and  upon  whom  Harvard 
conferred  a  degree. 

We  might  mention  Robert  Adrian,  who  was  born  in  Car- 
rickfergus,  and  who  was  Professor  in  Revolutionary  times,  of 
Mathematics  and  National  Philosophy  in  what  is  now  Rutgers 


260  IRELAND'S  CONTRIBUTION  TO  AflMERICAN  PROGRESS 

College;  Robert  Oliver,  who  established  in  Baltimore  the  Hi- 
bernian Free  School;  Robert  Alexander,  who  came  here  in 
1736  from  Ireland,  and  who  may  be  considered  the  founder  of 
the  present  Washington  and  Lee  University,  Virginia.  This 
was  the  institution  to  which  in  1826,  John  Robinson,  an  Irish- 
man, who  had  served  under  Washington,  bequeathed  his  estate 
valued  at  $46,000. 

The  immortal  Webster,  .as  a  pupil,  sat  at  the  feet  of  Ed- 
ward Evans,  a  schoolmaster,  in  the  early  days  of  America,  and 
born  in  the  County  Sligo,  Ireland,  which  is  put  down  as  the 
place  of  his  birth  in  the  history  of  the  town  of  Salis- 
bury. 

Darby  Kelley,  the  Irish  teacher  in  New  Hampshire,  one  of 
whose  descendants  was  the  late  Mrs.  Joseph  H.  Walker,  wife 
of  our  departed  Ex-Congressman  and  esteemed  fellow  citizen. 
Other  descendants  of  this  early  Irish  Schoolmaster  were  Capt. 
Warren  M.  Kelley,  who  commanded  a  company  in  Donohue's 
10th  New  Hampshire  Regiment  in  the  Civil  War,  and  Gen. 
Benj.  J.  Kelley,  who  raised  the  first  Union  regiment  and  won 
the  first  Union  victory  south  of  Mason  and  Dixon  line. 

That  Master  Commandant  and  laconic  Oliver  H.  Perry, 
who  defeated  the  British  Flotilla  on  Lake  Erie  in  the  war  of 
1812,  and  in  whose  veins  flowed  Irish  Blood,  was  a  pupil  of  one 
of  the  earliest  schoolmasters  of  Rhode  Island,  the  man  who  had 
taught  three  generations  of  the  youth  of  his  neighborhood,  old 
Master  Kelley,  of  whom  it  is  recorded  that  he  was  never  once 
known  to  have  lost  his  temper,  but  preserved  a  most  beautiful 
evenness  of  mind  that  was  the  envy  of  those  who  were  engaged 
in  his  difficult  and  important  calling. 

We  cannot  leave  this  part  of  our  subject  without  a  brief 
reference  to  that  philosopher  who  was  contemporary  with,  and 
a  friend  of  Pope,  Swift  and  Addison — George  Berkeley,  born 
at  Kilkrin,  near  Thomastown,  Co.  Kilkenny,  Ireland,  in  1684. 
He  was  regarded  by  his  associates  as  one  of  the  most  brilliant 
minds  of  his  time.  He  held  a  theory  in  regard  to  the  non-ex- 
istence of  matter  which  indeed  seemed  curious,  which  he  de- 
velops in  his  principles  of  human  knowledge,  but  his  influence 
was,  as  a  writer  says,  '^Much  better  traced  through  the  widely 
expanded  fields  of  literature,  printing,  architecture,  science  and 
education.  While  in  Newport,  R.  I.,  he  wrote  his  famous  poem, 
''On  the  Prospect  of  Planting  Arts  and  Learning  in  America.'^ 
Previous  to  his  departure  for  Ireland  in  1731,  he  donated  to 
Yale  the  finest  collection  of  books  that  ever  came  to  America, 
and  also  gave  liberally  to  Harvard.  Rhode  Island  always  has 
and  will  in  the  future  hold  his  name  in  loving  memory.     He 


HON.  JOHN  T.  DUGGAN  261 

wrote  a  great  many  works  on  science  and  he  was  one  of  the 
ablest  mathematicians  of  his  day. 

The  inauguration  of  evening  schools  was  not  an  innovation 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  as  many  of  the  present  day  might 
suppose.  Most  of  these  old  dispensers  of  education  taught  ev- 
ening as  well  as  day  schools  in  their  homes,  and  reading,  writ- 
ing, arithmetic,  English  grammar,  Geometry,  Plane  and  Spher- 
ical Trigonometry,  Surveying,  and  Bookkeeping  were  the 
branches  to  which  they  gave  their  assiduous  attention,  and  they 
were  not  unmindful  of  the  classics,  for  Greek  and  Latin  were 
included  in  their  curriculum,  all  of  which  were  productive  of 
most  excellent  results.  Nor,  were  their  efforts  confined  to  one 
or  two  sections  in  colonial  days,  for  Maine,  New  Hampshire, 
Ehode  Island,  Connecticut,  Pennsylvania  and  other  parts  were 
recipients  of  their  excellent  endeavors  in  the  cause  of  educa- 
tion— the  bulwark  then,  as  now,  of  a  nation's  greatness. 

It  would  be  very  interesting  reading  if  it  were  possible 
for  us  to  gain  access  to  the  notes,  lectures,  and  other  writings 
of  these  Irish  Schoolmasters  of  the  olden  time  which,  no  doubt, 
lie  in  some  hidden  spot  and  which  might  well  be  assigned  a 
suitable  place  as  memorials  of  their  generation. 

They  made  heroes  and  heroism  possible;  through  educa- 
tion they  brought  out  what  otherwise  might  have  remained 
dormant  in  the  minds  of  those  who  drank  in  the  precepts  of 
their  valuable  labors.  The  names  which  we  have  mentioned 
are  only  a  few  of  those  of  Irish  nationality  who  were  engaged 
in  shaping  the  minds  of  the  young  in  the  days  of  yore  and  who 
are  now  assigned  to  the  realms  of  oblivion.  The  land  of  their 
birth  or  their  ancestors  gets  no  credit  whatsoever  from  the  his- 
torical writers  of  modern  times  for  their  sacrifices  and  the  im- 
measurable amount  of  good  they  brought  to  the  threshold  of 
liberty  and  happiness.  When  Benj.  Franklin  wrote  Thompson, 
the  Irish  Schoolmaster,  that  ''The  Sun  of  liberty  is  set,  the 
Americans  must  light  the  lamps  of  industry  and  economy," 
Thompson  replied,  "Be  assured  that  we  shall  light  torches  of 
a  very  different  sort. ' ' 

In  those  early  days  when  colonization  and  its  handmaid, 
civilization,  were  laying  the  foundation  for  that  magnificent 
structure  which  is  today  the  envy  of  all  the  great  nations  of  the 
world,  these  grand  and  glorious  United  States  of  America,  we 
must  not  be  unmindful  of  the  many  sacrifices  that  were  made, 
the  sufferings  that  were  endured  and  the  obstacles  that  were 
surmounted  by  that  noble  vanguard  of  immigrants  whose 
names  are  forgotten  and  whose  memories  only  live  in  the  great 
work  they  accomplished.     Nor,  do  we  wish  for  a  moment  to 


262  IRELAND'S  CONTHIBUTION  TO  AMERICAN   PROGRESS 

take  away  from  any  race  or  any  people  the  glory  of  their 
achievements  towards  the  fulfillment  of  noble  purpose  and 
honest  endeavor,  but  as  we  are  strictly  concerned  tonight  with 
a  race  that  has  been  placed  before  the  world  by  prejudiced 
minds  as  indolent,  weak  and  as  purposeless  incapables,  we  de- 
sire to  meet  these  accusations  face  to  face  in  an  impassioned 
manner  and  prove  to  the  world  that  they  were  base  and  un- 
founded fabrications. 

The  knowledge  imparted  by  the  earlj^  Irish  Schoolmasters 
in  Colonial  days  teemed  with  the  elements  of  justice,  fortitude 
and  morality.  The  schooling  that  Ireland  received  from  Eng- 
land for  centuries  could  not  be  productive  of  any  other  result 
than  those  which  must  necessarily  follow  from  the  instillation 
of  knowledge  that  had  its  source  in  perverted  minds.  Yet, 
when  these  poor  Irish  immigrants  were  put  to  the  test  in  new 
fields  and  under  more  favorable  conditions,  their  resolute 
minds,  their  indomitable  will  and  their  fixed  determination  of 
purpose  arc  .e  phoenix  like  from  the  ashes  of  their  ancestors. 

From  their  numbers  was  the  woodman  whose  labors  laid 
claim  to  the  mighty  trees  of  the  forest,  the  agriculturalist  who 
tilled  and  cultivated  the  soil  with  the  rude  implements  at  his 
command;  the  builder  whose  humble  and  unpretentious  log 
cabin  supplanted  the  wigwam  of  the  Indian  and  from  which 
the  curling  smoke  of  infant  civilization  arose  and  ascended  to 
heaven  as  incense  and  a  token  of  thanksgiving  for  past  pro- 
tection and  future  blessings;  the  educator  who  filled  the  thirsty 
souls  of  the  young  with  the  knowledge  that  would  direct  them 
and  posterity  along  the  paths  that  led  to  the  accomplishment 
of  heroic  achievements  and  noble  deeds.  Whether  in  their 
struggles  with  the  Eed  Men  or  fighting  dissension  and  religious 
differences  which  were  followed  by  insults  and  persecution, 
oftentimes  ending  in  banishment,  or  in  working  for  the  com- 
plete annihilation  of  English  supremacy  in  this  fair  western 
world.  Irishmen  and  the  sons  of  Irishmen  exhibited  in  no  small 
degree  a  fortitude,  a  patience  and  a  heroism  that  should  merit 
for  them  a  higher  degree  of  honorable  mention  than  has  too 
often  been  denied  them.  Parkman  in  his  ^'Pioneers  of  France 
in  the  New  World, ' '  page  396,  says,  ' '  Seldom  has  religious  ty- 
ranny assumed  a  form  more  oppressive  than  among  the  Puritan 
exiles.  New  England  Protestantism  appealed  to  liberty;  then 
closed  the  door  against  her." 

Nearly  three  hundred  3^ears  ago  the  General  Court  of  Mas- 
sachusetts Ba}^  granted  lands  on  the  Merrimac  River  for  an 
Irish  settlement  and  in  that  great  and  protracted  war  against 
King  Philip,  Chief  of  the  Narragansett  tribe  of  Indians,  there 


HON.  JOHN  T.  DUGG^AN  263 

were  several  Imndred  Irishmen  from  this  settlement  who  did 
yoeman  work  with  the  troops  from  Massachusetts,  Plymouth 
and  Connecticut,  and  their  names  are  still  preserved  in  the 
Colonial  records,  and  after  the  termination  of  this  terrible 
struggle  when  the  colonies  of  Massachusetts  and  Plymouth 
were  sorely  distressed,  their  towns  destroyed,  their  houses 
burned,  and  greater  than  all,  the  flower  of  the  country,  chiefly 
composed  of  young  men,  gone  from  them  forever;  when,  also, 
on  account  of  their  great  pecuniary  losses,  over  a  half  million 
dollars,  which  meant  a  great  deal  for  the  people  who  were  strug- 
gling in  those  days,  the  call  for  help  went  out,  Ireland  in  the 
midst  of  all  her  sorrows  and  trials  sent  her  small  contribution, 
and  our  own* historian,  Bancroft,  referring  to  this  act,  said: 
''Let  us  not  forget  a  good  deed  of  the  generous  Irish;  they  sent 
over  a  contribution,  small  it  is  true,  to  relieve  the  distresses  of 
Plymouth  Colony.  Connecticut,  which  had  contributed  sol- 
diers to  that  war,  furnished  the  homeless  with  a  thousand 
bushels  of  corn,  God  will  remember  and  reward  ^that  precious 
fruit.  With  the  defeat  of  the  Indian  Chief  Philip,  the  tribes 
of  Eed  Men  in  New  England  began  to  grow  less  and  less  and 
the  colonists  were  never  afterwards  seriously  molested  by  the 
attacks  of  hostile  Indians."  In  the  early  colonization  those  of 
Celtic  elements  of  race,  and  afterwards  largely  increased  from 
Ireland,  were  unmistakably  the  source  of  American  heroism, 
character  and  prosperity  in  a  marked  degree.  We  have  no 
complete  memorial,  previous  to  the  Eevolution,  regarding  par- 
ticulars of  those  emigrations  which  took  place  from  Europe 
to  America.  But  from  those  records  which  are  accessible  they 
seem  to  have  been  verv  copious.  (See  Kev,  J,  A,  Spencer's 
History  of  the  U.  S.  Vol.  1). 

It  has  been  estimated  that  3000  males  left  Ulster  yearly 
for  the  American  Colonies  soon  after  the  beginning  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  One  reason  for  this  exodus  was  from  the 
fact  that  during  the  reign  of  William  III  and  of  Queen  Mary, 
the  woolen  trade  of  Ireland  was  greatly  discouraged.  In  the 
year  1660  Robert  and  Magdalen  Pollock  with  their  six  sons  and 
two  daughters  sailed  from  Donegal,  Ireland,  for  America,  and 
settled  in  the  then  colony  of  Lord  Baltimore,  within  Somerset 
County,  Maryland,  at  a  place  now  known  as  Davis'  Quarter. 
In  America  the  name  was  contracted  to  Polk.  From  one  of 
the  sons  was  descended  James  K.  Polk,  afterwards  President 
of  the  United  States,  from  another  son  descended  Gov.  Charles 
Polk  of  Delaware  and  Gen  Thomas  Polk  of  Mecklenburgh  fame, 
from  a  third  Governor  Trust  en  Polk  of  Missouri.  The  Car- 
rolls  who  founded  CarroUton  in  Maryland  emigrated  from  Ire- 


264  IRELAND'S  CONTRIBUTION  TO  AMEIRICAN  PROGRESS 

land  before  1689.  Daniel  Carroll  was  a  native  of  Littamourna, 
Ireland,  and  liis  grandson,  Charles,  was  the  last  snrvivor  of  the 
signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  In  his  own  state 
founded  by  Catholics,  on  the  principle  of  religions  toleration, 
the  education  of  Catholics  had  been  proscribed  by  law  in  the 
days  of  his  youth. 

The  established  church  of  England  had  been  supported  in 
Maryland  by  taxing  the  people  of  all  other  creeds  and,  after 
Mr.  Carroll's  return  to  that  colony,  over  the  signature  of  the 
"First  Citizen,"  he  attacked  the  validity  of  the  law  which  im- 
posed such  a  tax. 

Just  before  the  Eevolution,  he  was  appointed  one  of  the 
Committee  of  Correspondence  for  the  Province,  and  in  1775,  he 
was  elected  one  of  the  Council  of  Safety,  and  was  a  delegate  to 
the  Revolutionary  Convention.  On  the  4th  of  July,  1828,  he 
laid,  with  much  ceremony,  the  foundation  stone  of  the  Balti- 
more and  Ohio  Eaiiroad. 

We  can  only  give  a  meagre  enumeration  of  the  Irish  immi- 
grants who  sought  homes  in  the  colonies,  in  the  early  part  of 
the  eighteenth  century. 

In  the  Shenandoah  Valley,  New  York,  about  the  Blue 
Ridge  mountains,  several  localities  in  Virginia,  where  the 
names  of  towns  today,  are,  no  doubt,  of  Irish  origin,  as  also 
are  counties,  rivers  and  creeks.  Pennsylvania  and  New  Hamp- 
shire, the  latter  its  town  of  Dublin,  named  after  the  metropolis 
of  Ireland — the  former  the  settlement  of  the  parents  of  Anthony 
Wayne,  that  distinguished  General  of  the  Revolution. 

Some  came  to  the  banks  of  the  Hudson  River,  among  them 
Charles  Clinton,  from  the  County  Longford,  Ireland,  and,  at 
that  time,  he  had  two  distinguished  sons  and  a  grandson,  who 
were  afterwards  great  historical  characters,  and  illustrious 
sons  in  Revolutionary  days,  whether  acting  as  officers  in  the 
attack  on  Fort  Fontenac  in  1758  or  as  officials  managing  the 
affairs  of  nation  and  state,  their  commanding  abilities,  as  well 
as  their  administrative  faculties,  seem  to  have  been  character- 
istic of  this  great  family,  and  there  is  no  name  in  the  bright 
galaxy  of  illustrious  Americans  to  which  the  country  is  more 
indebted  than  that  of  Clinton. 

Irish  emigrants  came  to  this  country  in  1729,  in  the  pro- 
portion of  nine  to,  one,  of  all  the  other  European  nationalities. 
James  O'Hara,  an  Irishman,  was  one  of  the  founders  of  Pitts- 
burg; afterwards  he  was  a  quarter  master  general  under  the 
military  direction  of  Gen.  Anthony  Wayne. 

The  parents  of  General  Stark  were  born  in  Ireland,  and  as 
emigrants  settled  in  New  Hampshire.     Nor  were  settlements 


HON.  JOHN  T.   DUGKfiAN  265 

confined  to  the  eastern  part  of  this  country.  They  were  numer- 
ous along  the  frontier,  and  through  the  distant  back  woods; 
and  the  names  of  Daniel  Boone,  the  daring  major  Hugh  Mc- 
Grady,  and  Simon  Kenton,  one  of  the  first  adventurous  pioneers 
of  the  west,  may  be  mentioned  as  those  of  Irishmen.  David 
Campbell,  whose  son,  Capt.  John  Campbell,  shared  in  almost 
all  the  campaigns  against  the  Indians  until  the  close  of  the 
Eevolution,  was  the  pioneer  who  erected  Campbell's  station, 
fifteen  miles  below  Knoxville,  Tennessee.  There,  too,  at  Lime- 
stone, lived  the  Irish  father  of  the  famous  Davy  Crockett. 

In  mentioning  the  districts,  and  some  of  the  families  which 
have  been  alluded  to,  we  do  so  to  show  the  relation  of  Irish 
settlers  with  the  United  States  in  Colonial  days. 

They  laid  out  the  sites  and  plans  of  many  towns  and  cities. 
They  came  to  America  on  account  of  the  outrages  they  had  suf- 
fered for  their  civil  and  religious  rights,  preferring  to  encoun- 
ter the  dangers  of  an  Atlantic  flitting,  rather  than  abide  under 
the  yoke  and  lash  of  such  an  oligarchy. 

They  were  determined,  in  their  new  home,  to  meet  oppres- 
hion  with  strong  resistance,  and  they  were  firmly  resolved  to 
crush  any  foe  who  would  attempt  to  deprive  them  of  the  in- 
alienable rights  that  belonged  to  every  man.  They  brought 
with  them  no  love  for  England,  and,  as  Bancroft,  the  historian, 
said,  '*we  shall  find  the  first  voice,  publicly  raised  in  America 
to  dissolve  all  connection  with  Great  Britain,  came,  not  from 
the  Puritans  of  New  England  nor  the  Dutch  of  New  York,  nor 
the  planters  of  Virginia,  but  from  Irish  immigrants." 

And  that  priceless  boon  of  liberty,  which  we  have  enjoyed 
from  the  time  soon  after  that  memorable  Fourth  of  July,  in 
377G,  to  the  present  moment,  was  in  no  small  measure  due  to 
the  courage,  to  the  bravery,  to  the  determined  spirit  and  per- 
sistent zeal  of  Irishmen,  and  the  sons  of  Irishmen  in  the  war 
of  the  Revolution. 

"You  have  lost  America  by  the  Irish!"  was  the  exclama- 
tion of  a  British  statesman  in  the  Imperial  Parliament,  about 
the  time  that  liberty  was  secured. 

Historians  do  not  seem  to  say  much  about  this  fact,  but  the 
records  of  the  army  fully  sustain  it,  for,  in  Mr.  P.  H.  Bagenal's 
work  on  the  ''American  Irish,"  he  writes  as  follows:  '*As  to 
the  actual  number  of  Irishmen  who  fought  in  American  ranks, 
we  find  remarkable,  independent  historical  evidence  in  a  curi- 
ous volume  published  in  London  in  1785,  the  title  page  of 
wliich  professes  to  be:  "the  evidence  as  given  before  a  com- 
mittee of  the  House  of  Commons  on  the  Detail  and  Conduct  of 
the  American  War,'  no  less  important  a  personage  than  the 


266  IRELAND'S  CONTRIBUTION  TO  AMERICAN  PROGRiESS 

scholarly  Edmund  Burke  sat  in  that  committee;  and  this  cele- 
brated Irishman  in  examining  a  Major-General  Robertson,  wha 
had  sei'ved  in  the  army  in  America  for  24  years,  elicited  a  curi- 
ous and  interesting  fact.  'How,'  asked  Burke,  'are  the  pro- 
vincial (American)  corps  composed?  Are  they  mostly  Ameri- 
can, or  emigrants  from  various  nations  from  Europe?'  The 
answer  was,  '  General  Lee  informed  me  that  half  the  Rebel  Con- 
tinental Army  were  from  Ireland,'  Edmund  Burke  forsaw  and 
warned  the  government  of  the  outcome  of  the  Revolutionary 
war,  viz:  the  loss  of  the  colonies  if  England  should  persist  in 
its  hostilities,  and  by  his  unsellisli  integrity  of  purpose  in  elo- 
quently and  persistently  defending  the  rights  of  the  colonies 
all  through  the  war,  he  showed  to  the  world  his  greatness  of 
soul  and  true  nobility  of  purpose,  and  his  name  should  ever  be 
held  in  loving  memory  by  the  people  of  these  United  States  of 
America  as  a  staunch  friend  and  true  supporter  of  constitu- 
tional and  national  liberty  whether  for  the  individual  or  for 
the  nation." 

When  the  embattled  farmers  fired  the  shot  that  was  heard 
around  the  world,  when  Major  Pitcairn,  in  command  of  the 
British  advance,  insolently  gave  the  summons,  at  Lexington, 
''Disperse,  ye  rebels,"  Irishmen  were  doing  duty  at  Lexington 
and  Concord,  and  Bimker  Hill.  When  the  call  came  for  the  en- 
rollment of  minute  men  Celtic  blood  responded,  and  nearly  150 
Irish  names  are  still  preserved,  and  the  recognized  leader  at 
the  battle  of  Concord,  during  the  encounter,  was  Col.  Barrett. 
John  Stark,  a  name  familiar  to  every  student  of  American  his- 
tory, was  engaged  working  on  his  farm  in  Londonderry,  New 
Hampshire.  His  parents  had  emigrated  from  the  North  of 
Ireland  and  brought  potatoes  to  this  country,  and  the  seed 
therefrom  was  propagated  very  extensively  through  America. 

This  daring  and  distinguished  son  heard  of  the  massacre 
at  Lexington.  In  a  few  hours  he  raised  800  men.  War  had  no 
terrors  for  this  brave  Celt.  Having  served  through  the  French 
and  Indian  conflicts  with  credit  and  distinction,  he  now  took 
upon  himself  the  duties  of  a  defender  of  colonial  rights.  There 
was  one  company  raised  in  Bedford  which  consisted  of  seventy- 
one  Irishmen,  or  Irish  Americans.  These  belonged  to  a  New 
Hampshire  Company  at  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill.  Moreover, 
while  some  corps  were  mostly  natives,  they  were  also  largely 
composed  of  Irish. 

From  this  same  old  granite  state  came  Gen.  John  Sullivan, 
the  son  of  a  Limerick  schoolmaster,  and  his  brother  James, 
who  was  afterwards  Governor  of  Massachusetts.  The  former 
captured  the  first  fort  and  the  first  gun  in  the  Revolutionary 


HON.  JOHN  T.  DUGGL^N  267 

War,  at  Newcastle,  in  1774,  and  over  100  barrels  of  powder 
which  he  secured,  were  stored  in  the  basement  of  the  old  meet- 
ing house  at  Durham,  New  Hampshire,  the  greater  part  of 
which  was  used  six  months  later  in  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill. 
When  Ethan  Allen  in  that  memorable  month  of  May,  with  his 
eighty  men,  paid  a  very  early  and  unexpected  morning  call 
upon  the  British  Commandant  at  Fort  Ticonderoga  and  de- 
manded in  very  forcible  and  laconic  terms,  an  immediate  sur- 
render, he  had  with  him  that  youth,  Henry  Knox,  who  was  born 
in  Boston  of  Irish  parents,  in  1760.  This  stripling  undertook  to 
bring  to  Cambridge  over  100  cannon  which  were  captured  and 
were  at  this  fort  besides  a  number  of  swivels,  small  arms  and 
stores.  This  Was  certainly  a  Herculean  task  in  those  days, 
when  we  consider  the  difficulties  of  transit,  yet  after  incredible 
exertions  he  conveyed  all  the  military  stores  safely  to  their 
destination.  For  this  great  service,  he  was  entrusted  by  Con- 
gress with  the  command  of  the  Department  of  the  Canadian 
frontier,  with  the  rank  of  Brigadier  General.  He  fought  at 
Bunker  Hill,  Trenton,  Princeton,  Germantown  and  Monmouth, 
and  contributed  largely  to  the  capture  of  Cornwallis. 

He  was  raised  to  the  rank  of  Major-General.  He  after- 
wards succeeded  Lincoln  as  Secretary  of  War,  and  filled  that 
position  with  honor  and  credit. 

We  cannot  pass  by  a  daring  deed,  one  of  Maine's  con- 
tributions to  the  Revolutionary  War,  and  the  name  of  O'Brien 
rings  with  patriotism  and  bravery.  It  was  in  Machias  Bay  that 
Jeremiah  0  'Brien,  the  eldest  of  seven  brothers,  fought  the  first 
naval  battle  for  American  Independence.  Coming  from  Cork, 
Ireland,  with  his  father  and  other  members  of  his  family,  they 
made  their  new  home  in  the  settlements  of  what  is  now  called 
the  "Pine  Tree  State."  The  aged  father  Maurice,  and  all  of 
the  sons,  were  ardent  supporters  of  Colonial  rights.  When  the 
English  schooner  "Margaretta"  appeared  in  Machias  Bay, 
sent  over  to  intimidate  and  frighten  the  settlements,  this  brave 
family  under  the  leadership  of  their  eldest  brother,  Jeremiah, 
made  up  their  minds  to  capture  this  vessel;  and  getting  an  old 
cannon,  which  was  the  property  of  the  village,  they  planted  it 
on  board  a  sloop  secured  for  the  purpose.  Taking  every  pre- 
caution, this  heroic  band,  supported  by  their  brave  neighbors, 
pushed  out  to  attack  this  schooner,  which  carried  ten  guns. 
They  were  greeted  with  outbursts  of  laughter,  with  contempt 
and  derision;  but  oftentimes,  ''he  laughs  best  who  laughs  last;" 
and  so  it  proved;  for,  having  boarded  the  schooner,  after  a 
short  and  shar])  struggle,  the  commander  was  compelled  to 
strike  his  colors.     In   this   battle    twenty   of   tile  crew  of  the 


268  IREILAND'S  COiNTRIIBUTION  TO  AMERICAN  PROiG'RESS 

schooner  were  killed  and  wounded  in  a  hand  to  hand  encounter 
— among  them  Capt.  Moore,  who  fell  mortally  wounded. 

Previous  to  the  battle  the  Captain  had  threatened  to  fire 
on  Machias  town  unless  the  inhabitants  removed  a  liberty  pole 
they  had  erected  when  news  reached  them  of  the  affair  at  Lex- 
ington. This  battle  has  often  been  spoken  of  as  the  ''Lexing- 
ton of  the  Seas"  for,  like  that  celebrated  conflict  on  land,  it 
was  the  issue  of  the  people  against  an  equipped  force. 

After  this  battle,  these  same  brothers,  with  their  neighbors, 
captured  many  valuable  prizes  in  their  cruisings  along  the 
coast  for  nearly  two  years,  having  been  commissioned  by  the 
provincial  government  to  take  command  of  many  privateers 
engaged  in  the  capture  of  British  coast  survey  vessels,  which 
were  bringing  supplies,  and  among  them  the  Gen.  Patterson, 
an  English  armed  vessel  having  on  board  a  number  of  British 
officers  who  were  returning  from  New  York  to  England.  In 
the  meantime  Jeremiah  was  captured  by  two  English  frigates, 
"  was  sent  to  England  and  confined  in  Mill  prison,  from  which  he 
afterwards  escaped.  Some  of  the  descendants  of  this  brave 
family  are  inhabitants  of  the  north  today,  or  are  scattered 
through  the  Great  Kepublic  whose  independence  was  secured 
by  the  glorious  achievements  of  their  ancestors. 

Immediately  after  the  Battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  said  Dr.  Thom- 
as Addis  Emmet  in  an  address  before  the  American  Irish  His- 
torical Society  in  New  York,  Jan.  19,  1899,  every  able-bodied 
man  among  those  emigrants  from  the  North  of  Ireland  entered 
the  American  army,  and  their  continuous  service  and  disci- 
pline made  them  the  main-stay  of  the  organization  until  the  end 
of  the  war.  Those  Irishmen  who  had  settled  in  Pennsylvania 
turned  out  chiefly  under  the  command  of  General  Hand  and 
Col.  William  Irving.  They  were  both  Irishmen  and  had  served 
as  Surgeons  in  the  British  service — Gen.  Hand  in  the  Army, 
Col.  Irving  in  the  Navy.  Hand  was  of  Catholic  parents  from 
the  North  of  Ireland,  and  his  command,  composed  of  Presby- 
terians, joined  the  Army  before  Boston,  shortly  after  Washing- 
ton took  command.  Just  previous  to  his  arrival  there  had 
come  a  body  of  Catholic  Irishmen  from  Maryland  and  lower 
Pennsylvania,  under  the  command  of  Col.  Stephen  Moylan,  who 
was  a  personal  friend  of  Washington,  an  Aide  on  his  staff,  and 
an  active  officer  throughout  the  war.  Moylan  was  a  brother  to 
the  Catholic  Bishop  of  Cork,  Ireland,  who  was  a  sincere  and 
devoted  friend  of  the  American  cause. 

From  all  this,  one  can  form  a  fair  estimate  of  the  great 
number  of  Irishmen  and  Irish  Americans  who  were  contributory 
toward  gaining  our  national  independence,  and  ultimately  that 


HON.  JOHN  T.  DUGGIAN  26^ 

blessed  boon  of  liberty,  of  which  every  American  citizen  is 
the  proud  possessor. 

They  came  from  every  colony  under  brave  and  fearless 
leaders,  resolved  to  sacrifice  the  last  drop  of  their  blood  for 
the  attainment  of  ends  which  they  knew  were  honorable  and 
justifiable.  They  were  conspicuous  in  the  battles  on  land  and 
in  the  engagements  on  the  sea.  We  note  Stark,  bravely  keeping 
off  the  British  advance  at  the  rail  fence  at  Bunker  Hill  and 
again  the  hero  at  Bennington,  Dr.  Warren  giving  up  his  life  on 
the  redoubts  in  the  same  battle.  We  seem  to  behold  Montgom- 
ery^, falling  in  the  face  of  a  murderous  fire  at  the  siege  of 
Quebec. 

The  father  of  the  American  navy,  Commodore  Jack  Barry, 
heroically  defending  the  sea-coast  towns  from  the  attacks  of 
the  enemy,  capturing  the  first  British  war  vessel  that  was  ever 
taken  by  an  American  cruiser — he  was  one  of  the  men  who 
could  not  be  bought,  for,  when  Lord  Howe  offered  him  about 
$80,000,  and  the  command  of  a  British  ship  of  the  line,  in  re- 
turn for  his  services  in  the  British  Navy,  the  offer  was  flung 
back  with  scorn,  and  the  assurance  that  Britain  possessed  neith- 
er money  nor  honors  enough  to  buy  him.  And  when  he  was 
protecting  the  Supply  ship  Luzerne,  with  a  large  amount  of 
specie  from  Havana,  from  the  attack  of  a  British  fleet,  after 
conquering  the  enemy,  he  was  hailed  with  the  inquiry:  ^'Who 
are  3^ou?" — and  the  world  knows  his  answer,  ''The  tJ.  S.  Ship 
Alliance,  saucy  Jack  Barry,  half  Irishman,  half  Yankee.  Who 
are  youf" 

Many  of  the  officers  of  the  American  Navy  learned  their 
lessons  of  skill,  valor  and  proud  patriotism  under  him.  Wash- 
ington was  his  special  friend.  He  was  just  as  admirable  and 
loving  in  private  as  in  public  life.  He  died  as  he  had  lived,  a 
consistent,  practical  Catholic.  He  had  no  children  and  left  the 
greater  part  of  his  property  to  an  orphan  asylum. 

In  the  coming  month  of  Maj^,  a  monument  is  to  be  erected 
to  the  memory  of  this  patriotic,  able  and  courageous  naval 
commander,  in  the  City  of  Washington.  His  allegiance  to  the 
cause  of  libert}^  could  never  be  divided.  His  love  of  America 
and  American  principles  could  never  be  questioned. 

Again,  we  behold  Gen.  Anthony  Wayne,  one  of  the  bravest 
and  most  brilliant  officers  of  the  American  Eevolution,  born  in 
the  Irish  settlements  of  Chester  County,  Penn.,  (to  which  his 
Irish  i^arents  had  emigrated  in  the  early  part  of  the  18th  cen- 
ury),  we  see  him,  with  Gen.  Thompson,  moving  on  Canada, 
where  he  was  severely  wounded;  serving  under  Gen.  Gates,  at 
Ticonderoga,  where  he  brought  into  service  his  great  skill  as 


270  IRELlAND'S  CONTRIBUTION  TO  AMERICAN  PROGRESS 

an  engineer.  Again  at  the  battle  of  Brandywine,  where,  with 
very  inferior  forces,  he  held  the  enemy  at  bay;  at  Germantown, 
where  he  displayed  his  great  ability  as  a  leader,  and  when  he 
was  entrusted  by  Gen.  Washington  with  the  taking  of  Stony 
Point  on  the  Hudson,  the  formidable  position  with  one  side 
protected  by  the  river,  so  true  did  he  prove  to  the  confidence 
placed  within  him  that,  for  this  great  achievement,  he  re- 
ceived a  gold  medal  and  the  thanks  of  Congress. 

We  could  mention  other  names  and  a  record  of  other  valor- 
ous deeds  that  were  conducive  to  the  drafting  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  the  greatest  document  even  penned  and  which 
bore  the  signatures  of  nine  men  who  were  of  Irish  birth  or 
parentage.  The  immortal  John  Hancock,  the  first  signer,  was 
of  Irish  descent,  his  ancestors  having  emigrated  from  the  Coun- 
ty Down,  Ireland. 

In  the  school  histories  of  the  United  States,  Patrick  Henry 
is  the  only  prominent  one  mentioned  bearing  the  Christian 
name  so  peculiar  to  Ireland,  and  as  taking  an  active  part  in  the 
war  of  the  Eevolution ;  but  from  various  sources  there  has  been 
gathered  a  list  of  nearly  250  Patricks  who  served  in  the  Army 
either  as  officers  or  private  soldiers,  and  in  giving  due  prom- 
inence to  the  names  we  have  mentioned,  we  do  not  forget  those 
valiant  men  who  were  of  the  rank  and  file  and  who  were  in- 
strumental in  procuring  for  future  generations  that  glorious 
heritage  of  a  civil  and  religious  liberty. 

In  the  war  of  1812,  when  the  rights  of  American  seamen 
were  imposed  upon  and  England  sent  Men-of-War  to  stop  and 
search  American  vessels,  not  only  on  the  ocean  but  even  on 
our  coasts,  the  result  was  that,  in  a  few  years,  six  thousand 
American  seamen  were  seized  and  compelled  to  serve  in  the 
English  Navy. 

The  names  of  Commodore  Perry,  Commodore  Thomas  Mc- 
Donougli  and  General  Andrew  Jackson  will  ever  be  cherished 
as  deserving  the  gratitude  of  the  American  nation — all  with 
Celtic  blood  in  their  veins,  together  with  other  Irish  Americans 
who  performed  signal  service  on  land  and  sea. 

In  the  war  with  Mexico,  the  names  of  Zachary  Taylor, 
Brigadier-General,  James  Shields,  who  afterwards  served  in 
the  Confederate  War,  Commodore  David  Connor,  who  directed 
the  operations  of  the  fleet,  Major-General  of  Volunteers,  Rob- 
ert Patterson,  Gen.  Stevens  Watt  Kearney,  who  conducted  an 
army  over  the  plains  through  New  Mexico  and  California,  Col. 
Pierce  M.  Butler,  who  fell  fighting  at  Cherubusco,  son  of  the 
South  Carolina  Senator  of  the  Revolutionary  War  and  of  Irish 
descent,  besides  those  prominent  Irish  Celts,  a  host  of  others 


HON.  JOHN  T.  BUGGHAN  271 

whose  names  are  on  record,  and  who,  Hke  their  noble  ancestors, 
were  contributing  their  share  towards  the  rise  and  progress  of 
this  liberty-loving  nation. 

It  is  not  necessary,  neither  do  we  propose  to  institute  any 
comparisons  between  the  leaders  or  private  soldiers  of  the 
Civil  War. 

It  was  one  of  the  most  cruel,  the  most  dreadful  and 
the  most  stubbornly  contested  of  any  war  in  modern  times.  It 
was  a  fratricidal  war — a  terrible  contest  between  brothers. 
Irishmen  fought  against  those  of  their  own  kin,  as  did  others 
who  did  not  have  within  them  the  elements  of  Celtic  origin. 
The  patriotism  bf  the  Irish  race  never  underwent  such  a  se- 
vere test  of  loyalty  to  their  adopted  country  as  was  experienced 
when  the  immortal  Lincoln  issued  a  call  for  volunteers  to  save 
the  Union,  yet  never  was  purer  metal  melted  in  a  crucible. 
They  responded  in  numbers  so  large  that  many  regiments  from 
the  North  were  composed  altogether  of  Irishmen  and  those  of 
Irish  descent. 

The  Ninth  Massachusetts  Volunteers  and  the  28th  Massa- 
chusetts were  so  markedly  Irish  that  the  State  gave  them  full 
permission  to  carry  the  green  flag  of  Erin  beside  the  Stars  and 
Stripes,  and  during  the  whole  war  Irish  valor  and  Irish  gal- 
lantry were  never  wanting. 

Whether  we  behold  the  brilliant  and  dashing  Sheridan 
flying  through  the  Valley  of  the  Shenandoah  and  coming  upon 
his  retreating  and  despairing  soldiers,  with  a  voice  ringing  out 
above  the  very  din  of  battle  turn  a  disastrous  and  seemingly 
inextricable  rout  into  a  complete  and  glorious  victory.  Gen. 
George  Gordon  Meade,  in  command  at  Gettysburg,  of  Irish  de- 
scent, and  whose  grandfather  was  one  of  the  original  members 
of  the  sons  of  St.  Patrick  of  Philadelphia. 

The  Irish  Brigade,  under  the  gallant  Meagher,  giving  ex- 
hibitions over  and  over  again  of  courage  and  invincible  pluck 
which  earned  for  them  the  praise  and  admiration  of  the  whole 
army,  or  the  thousands  of  other  Irish  soldiers  who  fought  with 
that  same  determination,  we  are  impressed  with  the  loyalty 
they  manifested  toward  the  preservation  of  the  Union,  as  did 
their  ancestors  in  colonial  days  for  the  principles  of  civil  and 
religious  liberty. 

"^^^len  that  quiet,  dignified,  modest  and  lamented  Pres. 
McKinley  called  for  troops  to  resent  the  insult  that  had  been 
offered  to  liberty's  emblem,  he  found  none  more  willing  to  re- 
spond than  those  of  Celtic  blood,  and  from  all  over  the  Union 
they  came  ready  and  willing  to  endure  whatever  hardships 
might  be  in  store  for  them,  and  today  the  Island  of  Cuba  lives 


272  IRELAND'S  CONTRIBUTION  TO  AMERICAN   PROGRESS 

in  the  enjoyment  of  a  liberty  that  will  be  conducive  to  greater 
blessings  for  a  happy  and  peaceful  future. 

''By  that  grim  mouth  which  once  belched  death 

But  now  has  known,  of  war  surcease 
These  many  years  the  violets  nod 

And  dandelions  light  the  sod 
Once  dark  with  blood  of  men  Dear  God, 

We  thank  Thee  for  the  day  of  peace." 

And  peace  hath  her  heroes,  no  less  renowned  than  war. 
Ireland  has  contributed  to  America's  progress  in  times  of  peace 
in  divers  ways.  The  genius  of  the  Irish  race  has  been  mani- 
fested in  the  world  of  invention;  Robert  Fulton  bridged  the 
gulf  that  separated  conception  and  achievement,  and  his  prac- 
tical mind  justly  entitled  him  to  be  called  the  father  of  navi- 
gation. Born  of  Irish  parents  he  eventually  adopted  the  pro- 
fession of  Civil  Engineer.  In  1807  he  completed  a  steamboat 
which  successfully  navigated  the  Hudson.  In  1814  he  de- 
signed an  armed  steamship  for  the  defense  of  the  harbor  of 
New  York  and  a  submarine  vessel  capable  of  holding  100  men, 
the  plans  of  which  were  sanctioned  by  the  Government,  and  he 
was  ordered  to  construct  them  at  Government  expense,  but  be- 
fore these  works  could  be  completed  he  passed  away,  and  his 
death  was  looked  upon  as  a  public  calamity. 

That  wonderful  invention  of  Samuel  F.  B.  Morse,  the  elec- 
tric telegraph,  that  brings  the  whole  world  before  us  in  the 
morning  newspaper,  confers  a  debt  of  gratitude  on  his  scien- 
tific mind  that  can  never  be  reckoned.  In  1854,  when  Cyrus 
W.  Field  of  New  York  wrote  to  Prof.  Morse  in  regard  to  the 
practicability  of  his  invention  in  the  working  of  a  cable  across 
the  Atlantic,  he  was  assured  of  his  entire  confidence,  and  we 
have  that  wonderful  means  of  transmitting  messages  under  the 
ocean. 

Cyrus  H.  McCormick,  of  Irish  extraction,  patented  a  com- 
bination reaper  and  mower  in  1834,  which  he  afterwards  so 
improved  as  to  make  it  the  necessary  basis  of  all  reapers.  In 
competitive  trials  at  home  and  abroad  the  American  mowers 
and  reapers  have  demonstrated  that  they  are  superior  to  all 
others.  In  London  and  Paris  it  has  been  proven  beyond  ques- 
tion that  the  American  machine  can  cut  an  acre  of  grain  in 
much  less  time  than  those  of  foreign  invention.  One  of  the 
largest  branches  of  this  business  today  is  in  Russia,  and  that 
coimtry  is  enabled  by  reason  of  McCormick 's  invention  to 
gather  its  vast  amount  of  agricultural  products  with  greater 


HON.  JOHN  T.  DUGGAN  273 

facility  and  satisfaction.  And  when  they  are  ready  to  be  sent 
away  we  have  the  splendid  steamboat  and  railroad  system  of 
James  J.  Hill,  whose  parents  came  from  the  same  province  in 
Ireland  as  those  of  McCormick,  the  wonderful  land  and  water 
service  which  allows  America  to  communicate  with  the  em- 
pires of  the  eastern  world,  and  if  Mr.  Hill  happened  to  be 
pressed  for  rolling  stock,  he  could  obtain  the  assistance  of  Sam- 
uel Sloan,  born  at  Lisburn,  Ireland,  and  who  was  President  of 
the  Hudson  Eiver  Kailroad,  and  later  of  the  Delaware,  Lack- 
awanna &  "Western,  the  Marquette,  Houghton  and  Ontonagon 
Eailroad  of  Michigan,  and  the  Great  Northern  Texas. 

In  some  of  the  great  engineering  feats  accomplished  in 
this  country,  might  be  mentioned  the  names  of  William  Mul- 
holland.  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Los  x^ngeles  Water  Works  and 
under  whose  supervision  water  was  brought  to  the  city  from 
the  Sierra  Nevada  mountains,  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles 
away,  by  the  construction  of  the  Los  Angeles  aquaduct,  and 
which  stamps  him  as  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  in  his 
line  in  recent  times.  His  services  are  also  valuable  to  the 
LTnited  States  as  an  expert  on  irrigation. 

As  an  electrical  engineer,  John  F.  Kelley  of  Pittsfield, 
Mass.,  a  man  who  has  received  nearly  a  hundred  United  States 
patents  for  the  utilization  of  electricity.  In  long  distance  high 
tension  transmission  work  he  was  an  early  contributor. 

Walter  Shanley  of  County  Leitrim,  Ireland,  who  was  en- 
gineer of  the  great  Hoosac  Tunnel.  Dennis  Hart  Mahan,  one 
of  the  ablest  of  American  Civil  and  Military  engineers,  was  of 
Irish  extraction,  born  in  New  York  City  in  1802,  April  2;  grad- 
uated from  West  Point  in  1824,  at  the  head  of  his  class,  was 
retained  there  as  assistant  professor  of  mathematics  and  en- 
gineering for  two  years,  then  sent  to  Europe  on  professional 
duty;  remained  there  four  years,  fifteen  months  in  the 
engineering  school  at  Metz,  then  returned  and  was  appointed 
Professor  of  Civil  and  Military  Engineering  at  West  Point, 
which  he  held  up  to  his  death,  Sept.  16,  1871. 

His  reputation  in  his  profession  was  world  wide,  and  his 
works  are  of  the  highest  authority  on  matters  treated.  Among 
them  are  "Field  Fortifications,"  '^Military  Mining  and  Siege 
Erections,"  "Permanent  Fortifications,"  "Course  of  Civil  En- 
gineering," "Advance-guard,  Out-post  and  Detachment,  Ser- 
vice of  Troops,"  besides  many  other  valuable  additions  to 
science. 

As  presidents  of  great  corporations  both  in  the  mercantile 
and  banking  line,  the  names  of  Irishmen  are  prominent  in  in- 
dustries and  in  savings  institutions  in  great  cities.    In  the  city 


274  IRELAND'S  CONTRIBUTION  TO  AMERICAN  PROGRESS 

of  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  for  example,  where  it  is  said  there  are  more 
powerful  banks  and  more  millions  per  capita  than  in  any  other 
large  city  outside  of  New  York,  Thomas  Mellon,  born  in  the 
County  Tyrone,  was  the  leading  bank  man  for  years.  Samuel 
Gr.  Bayne,  from  Ulster  province,  did  not  come  to  America  until 
he  was  twenty-five  years  old.  He  accumulated  a  great  fortune 
in  the  oil  fields  and  started  a  bank  in  Bradford,  Pa.,  and  after- 
wards organized  national  banks  in  Minnesota,  Ohio,  New  York, 
Texas,  Mississippi  and  Kansas,  and  notwithstanding  his  busy 
life  he  found  time  to  write  several  books  on  different  scientific 
and  many  literary  subjects.  The  Emigrant  Industrial  Savings 
Bank  of  New  York,  with  deposits  aggregating  nearly  $125,000,- 
000,  and  with  something  like  140,000  depositors  in  its  personnel 
is  almost  wholly  Irish.  It  has  carried  on  its  work  by  success- 
ful management  for  over  60  years,  a  splendid  example  of  Irish 
trust,  Irish  thrift  and  Irish  efficiency. 

The  story  of  Mackay,  Flood,  Daley,  O'Brien  and  Fair,  all 
native  born  Irishmen,  reads  like  a  wonderful  fairy  tale.  Com- 
ing to  this  country  in  the  latter  part  of  the  '40s,  with  their 
wonderful  business  qualifications  and  thorough  knowledge  of 
engineering,  they  extracted  from  the  Eocky  Mountains  untold 
treasures,  that  made  them  the  most  powerful  money  kings  of 
their  generation.  They  established  banks  and  controlled  finan- 
cial concerns  of  great  magnitude,  men  with  true  Irish  hearts 
and  of  princely  generosity. 

The  industrial  history  of  many  of  the  great  cities  of  the 
West  has  been  influenced  in  no  small  way  by  the  remarkable 
efforts  and  untiring  business  acumen  of  Patrick,  Michael  and 
John  Cudaliy,  three  brothers  whom  the  famine  of  the  late  '40s 
drove  from  Kilkenny  County  to  this  country.  Having  been 
denied  the  privileges  of  a  free  education  by  tyrannical  laws, 
they  entered  the  public  schools  of  Milwaukee,  where  they  re- 
mained only  a  few  years.  They  started  out  equipped  only 
with  the  ordinary  advantages  of  a  common  laborer,  doing 
daily  work  in  the  meat  packing  houses  of  Milwaukee.  By  per- 
sistent and  determined  effort  they  rose  to  partnership  and 
finally  ownership  of  the  great  meat  packing  establishment  of 
the  West,  and  at  the  present  time  they  are  looked  u])on  as  men 
who  accomplished  one  of  the  most  remarkable  feats  in  indus- 
trial advancement,  and  a  large  amount  of  the  stock  which  they 
handle  in  their  establishment  comes  from  the  cattle  ranges  in 
Nevada  and  Wyoming,  owned  and  supervised  by  George  Rus- 
sell and  Timothy  Kenney,  both  of  whom  were  born  in  Ireland 
and  who  came  to  this  country  as  emigrants. 

Among  the  names  of  many  Irishmen  who  have  reached  a 


HON.  JOHN  T.  DUGGAN  275 

prominent  place  in  business  circles  of  America  are  those  of 
A.  T.  Stewart,  whose  great  store  in  New  York  had  the  largest 
retail  department  in  the  world.  He  began  life  as  a  poor  boy, 
selling  Irish  laces,  and  after  his  death  the  sum  of  ($40,000,000) 
forty  million  dollars  was  said  to  be  his  fortune;  Anthony  N. 
Brady,  the  proprietor  of  several  large  tea  stores  in  Troy  and 
Albany,  whose  earnings  reached  such  large  figures  and  his  in- 
vestments in  railroads,  gas  plants,  foundry  supplies  and  elec- 
trical appliances  proved  so  successful  that  he  left  a  tremendous 
fortune,  and  he  was  one  of  the  most  charitable  men  in  the 
United  States,  John  D.  Crimmins,  the  New  York  building  con- 
tractor who  l;ias  erected  anywhere  from  four  hundred  to  six 
hundred  structures,  many  of  them  skyscrapers,  in  many  of  the 
cities  of  the  United  States.  He  held  office  in  many  organiza- 
tions; John  Flannery  of  County  Tipperarj^,  the  Savannah  Cot- 
ton King,  and  Thomas  F.  Walsh,  from  the  same  county,  whose 
great  business  qualifications  enabled  him  to  accumulate  from 
the  Western  mines  an  amount  to  make  him  many  times  a  mil- 
lionaire. 

Thomas  Fortune  Eyan,  one  of  the  shrewdest  financiers  in 
America,  comes  of  Irish  stock  and  is  a  living  example  and  pos- 
itive proof  that  a  people  who  resent  persecution  make  excel- 
lent colonists  and  their  descendants  make  the  very  best  mater- 
ial for  citizenship.  Indeed  our  whole  national  system  consists 
of  a  harmonius  blending  of  the  stock  of  Irish  strain  with  that  of 
other  persecuted  pilgrims. 

Thirteen  years  ago  this  very  month  of  March,  Mr.  F. 
Spencer  Baldwin  wrote  an  article  in  the  New  England  Maga- 
zine in  which  the  question  is  asked,  ''Where  do  the  Irish  emi- 
grants settle?"  and  he  answered  the  question  by  saying  that 
''the  great  majority  settle  in  the  cities  of  the  Atlantic  sea 
board.  He  further  states  that ' '  the  explanation  is  simple  enough 
from  the  fact  "they  had  neither  money,  skill  or  knowledge." 
We  will  not  gainsay  the  money  part,  but  as  far  as  knowledge 
and  skill  are  concerned  let  him  remember  the  names  of  the  men 
whom  we  have  mentioned,  and  others  whom  we  would  be 
pleased  to  honor  if  circumstances  and  time  were  at  our  dispos- 
al. It  was  very  natural  in  the  early  days  for  immigrants  to 
take  up  their  abode  in  that  part  of  America  where  civilization 
manifested  itself.  The  time  for  the  development  of  the  West 
and  Northwest  had  not  come.  In  the  year  1850,  Thomas  D  'Arcy 
McGee,  a  man  of  fine  literary  accomplishments  and  patriotic 
sympathies,  entertained  the  opinion  that  the  future  of  the  Irish 
lay  in  the  newer  states.  In  furtherance  of  this  view  he  co-oper- 
ated with  others  in  calling  an  Irish-American  Convention  at 


276  IRELAND'S  CONTRIBUTION  TO  AMERICAN  PROGRESS 

Buffalo  to  promote  Western  emigration.  In  this  he  was  op- 
posed by  the  most  illustrious  and  one  of  the  ablest  of  the  Cath- 
olic prelates  of  America,  Most  Rev.  John  Hughes,  Archbishop 
of  New  York.  This  splendid  type  of  Catholic  priest  and  exem- 
plary citizen,  who,  in  1851,  laid  the  corner  stone  of  the  grandest 
religious  structure  in  the  New  World,  (St.  Patrick's  Cathedral^ 
New  York),  and  who,  in  1861,  on  the  breaking  out  of  the  South- 
ern Rebellion  after  frequent  consultations  with  the  immortal 
Lincoln  and  Secretary  of  State  Seward,  was  sent  by  the  Gov- 
ernment on  a  special  mission  to  Europe  in  relation  to  the  atti- 
tude of  England  and  France.  And  the  President  was  so  pleased 
with  the  result  of  his  labors,  that  he  officially  indicated  to  the 
Pope  that  this  Grovernment  would  be  pleased  to  see  Archbishop 
Hughes  elevated  to  the  Cardinalcy.  He  was  one  of  the  ablest 
minds  of  his  day  and  one  of  the  glories  of  the  Catholic  Church 
in  America. 

This  was  the  great  man  who  was  at  that  time  opposed  to 
Irish  emigration  to  the  Western  parts  of  the  country,  and  even 
if  the  Bishop  had  said  nothing,  conditions  were  adverse.  There 
was  at  this  time  a  great  development  of  industries  in  the  East, 
and  the  Irish  immigrants  instead  of  ajDplying  themselves  to  the 
occupation  of  agriculture  and  farming,  for  which  they  were  so 
naturally  fitted,  on  account  of  the  excellent  fertility  and  rich- 
ness of  the  soil  in  their  own  dear  native  land,  very  likely  were 
attracted  to  those  industries  which  could  furnish  them  a  means 
for  gaining  a  livelihood,  and  the  mills  and  the  mines  of  the  East 
were  far  more  preferable  than  the  barren  wastes  and  wilds  of 
the  West.  But  as  emigration  continued  others  like  those  whom 
we  have  mentioned  above,  began  to  move  Westward,  when  cir- 
cumstances and  opportunities  presented  themselves  to  their  ad- 
vantage, and  today  many  giants  of  this  republic  of  Irish  ex- 
traction may  be  found  beyond  the  Alleghanies  and  still  farther 
across  the  Rockies.  In  Iowa,  for  instance,  according  to  the  cen- 
sus of  1890,  there  were  over  fifty  thousand  people  of  Irish  na- 
tionality pursuing  peaceful  occupations,  twent^^-five  thousand 
of  whom  were  engaged  in  agriculture. 

In  the  Dakotas,  of  fourteen  thousand  persons  of  Irish  ma- 
ternity, nearly  eight  thousand  were  farmers.  In  Wisconsin 
of  fifty  thousand  persons  of  Irish  maternity  pursuing  gainful 
occupations,  twenty-two  thousand  were  engaged  in  farming, 
and  so  on  in  many  of  the  other  North  Central  States  of  the 
West.  From  this  we  would  say  to  those  writers  who  seem  to 
be  so  impressed  with  the  way  the  Irish  race  congest  American 
cities,  and  seem  to  think  that  our  people  avoid  what  their  best 
interests  dictate,  viz:  settlement  on  the  farms — to  these  critics 


HON.  JOHN  T.   DUGGAN  277 

we  would  suggest  that  tliey  look  over  these  figures  and  not  be 
in  such  a  hurry  to  arrive  at  alarming  or  despondent  conclus- 
ions. It  has  been  truly  said  that  Irish  immigration  not  only 
swelled  the  numerical  preponderance  of  the  North,  but  also  set 
in  motion  Western  emigration  of  Northern  people,  thereby 
building  up  the  great  Northwestern  States  which  gave  the  non- 
slave  holding  Commonwealths  at  the  outbreak  of  the  rebellion, 
a  majority  in  Congress." 

The  assumption  that  the  Irish  in  great  proportions  con- 
gregate in  cities,  in  lieu  of  smaller  towns,  is  eventually  mis- 
leading, as  it  ca^n  be  applied  to  immigrants  who  have  come  from 
other  countries.  Taking  the  census  returns  of  1890,  for  these 
were  the  ones  available,  when  the  writer  in  the  New  England 
Magazine  of  1901,  wrote  the  article,  we  find  that  for  the  thirty 
large  cities  of  the  United  States  the  German  born  population 
exceeds  the  Irish  born  population  in  twenty-three  cities,  in- 
cluding New  York,  Chicago,  Brooklyn  and  St.  Louis. 

Of  the  Irish  born  population  in  1890,  56%  was  found  in  the 
124  principal  American  cities;  48%  of  the  German  population 
was  also  found  in  these  cities.  Of  the  whole  number  of  Eus- 
sians,  Poles  and  Italians  57%,  58%  and  59%  respectively  were 
found  in  the  principal  cities,  these  three  foreign  elements 
being  more  inclined  even  than  the  Irish  to  crowd  in  the 
cities. 

There  is  nothing  that  better  distinguishes  the  refinement 
and  nobility  of  a  race  than  the  character  and  self-sacrificing 
work  of  its  women.  Everywhere  throughout  the  length  and 
breadth  of  America  there  are  examples  of  women  who  are 
silently  and  without  ostentation  sending  in  a  contribution  of 
imtold  value,  a  powerful  adjuvant  in  strengthening  the  moral 
growth  and  progress  of  this  nation.  We  see  them  moving  about 
clad  in  the  garb  of  the  various  sisterhoods,  we  find  them  on  the 
battle-field  mitigating  suffering,  assuaging  pain,  comforting 
the  dying;  in  times  of  peace  instructing  the  youth,  feeding  the 
orphan,  visiting  the  sick,  ministering  to  the  afflicted,  caring 
for  the  aged,  and  engaged  in  divers  other  occupations  of  a  lofty 
and  dignified  nature.  The  names  of  many  of  the  daughters  of 
Erin  may  be  found  in  this  book  of  noble  deeds,  and  the  splen- 
did work  which  they  accomplish  is  of  •  immeasurable  value  in 
the  making  of  the  history  of  a  nation.  For  when  these  moral 
props  begin  to  tremble  and  totter  look  out  for  a  speedy  and  in- 
evitable ruin, 

A  certain  writer  says  that  ''the  contributions  of  the  Irish 
to  the  higher  arts  of  civilization  in  this  country,  it  must  be 
frankly  stated,  have  been  comparatively  few  and  small,"  and 


278  IRELAND'S  CONTRIBUTION  TO  AMERICAN  PROGRESS 

he  mentions,  among  these,  music,  painting  and  architecture. 
All  Irishmen  will  ever  cherish  the  name  of  Samuel  Lover,  the 
talented  novelist  and  song  writer,  who  paid  a  visit  to  the  United 
States  in  1848  and  was  graciously  received.  His  ''Rory 
0 'Moore,"  ''Molly  Bawn,"  '' Low-back 'd  Car,"  ''Molly 
Carew, ' '  and  other  popular  Irish  songs,  are  sung  today  and  are 
just  as  soul-inspiring  as  when  they  were  written.  The  grand- 
son of  this  same  Samuel  Lover  is  none  other  than  our  own  Vic- 
tor Herbert,  who  is  Irish  born  and  of  real  Irish  stock.  This 
celebrated  composer  has  written  nearly  twenty-five  operas 
which  entitle  him  to  credit  from  the  best  musical  critics.  More- 
over, he  is  a  soloist  of  note  and  is  second  to  none  as  an  orches- 
tra leader.  Ethelbert  Nevin  wrote  ' '  Narcissus, "  "  The  Rosary '  ^ 
and  other  immortal  compositions.  And  to  those  who  ever  heard 
Patrick  Gilmore's  band  they  cannot  but  remember  the  sweet 
music  that  was  often  rendered  by  that  famous  collection  of 
musical  artists.  It  was  an  Irishman,  Dominick  Lynch,  who  in- 
troduced Italian  opera  in  this  country,  the  man  who  also  was 
the  founder  of  Rome,  N.  Y. 

In  painting  there  is  John  Singleton  Copley,  the  eminent 
American  artist,  born  in  Boston  in  1737,  the  son  of  Irish  par- 
ents from  the  County  Clare.  He  painted  a  picture  of  his  half 
brother  which  he  sent  to  Benjamin  West  to  be  entered  in  the 
Royal  Academy  and  which  West  declared  was  a  marvel  of  col- 
oring as  well  as  artistic  in  design  and  drawing.  He  even  invited 
the  young  artist  to  come  to  England  and  make  his  house  his 
home.  While  he  did  not  accept  the  invitation  he  went  abroad 
shortly  afterwards,  and  while  in  Parma  made  a  copy  of  "St. 
Jerome"  for  Lord  Grosvenor,  which  is  said  to  be  the  finest  ever 
produced.  Among  his  other  works  are  "A  boy  rescued  from  a 
shark  in  the  Harbor  of  Havana,"  "The  Western  Family," 
* '  Siege  of  Gibraltar, ' '  painted  for  the  City  of  London  and  hang- 
ing in  the  Council  Chamber  of  Guild  Hall;  "Abraham's  Sacri- 
fice," "Hager  and  Ishmael,"  "The  Nativity,"  besides  innu- 
merable portraits  in  England  and  America.  That  other  Ameri- 
can artist,  born  in  Ireland  in  1796,  Charles  Ingham,  founder  of 
the  National  Academy  of  Design,  who  as  a  portrait  painter 
ranked  among  the  first  of  his  day.  George  P.  A.  Healy,  born  in 
Boston  of  Irish  parents,  1813,  whose  most  important  works 
were  "Franklin's  Urging  the  Claims  of  America  before  Louis 
XVI,  King  of  France,"  and  "Webster's  Reply  to  Hayne."  Wil- 
liam J.  Hennessey,  born  in  Thomastown,  County  Kilkenny,  in 
1839,  whose  works  in  oil  and  water  colors  are  greatly  prized, 
among  them,  "In  Memoriam,"  "The  Wanderers."  "On  the 
Sands,"  "Autumn  on  the  New  England  Hills,"  "A  Summer 


HON.  JOHN  T.   DUGGAN  279 

Sea,"  ^'The  Gleaners'  Return,"  ''New  England  Berry  Pickers" 
and  many  other  excellent  productions. 

Thomas  Crawford,  the  distinguished  American  sculptor  of 
Irish  extraction,  executed  the  equestrian  statue  of  Washington 
for  the  State  of  Virginia,  and  it  may  be  seen  in  the  City  of 
Richmond.  His  colossal  statue,  "Armed  Liberty,"  on  the  dome 
of  the  capitol  at  Washington,  is  a  masterpiece.  Besides  these 
he  left  over  sixty  other  contributions  to  art  which  are  monu- 
ments to  the  works  of  his  head  and  hand.  He  was  the  father 
of  F.  Marion  Crawford,  the  distinguished  novelist.  Among  the 
men  and  women  who  have  been  prominent  in  the  profession  of 
teaching  and  Vho  have  been  important  factors  in  the  building 
up  of  excellent  systems  of  education,  no  one  is  perhaps  better 
known  than  William  H.  Maxwell,  Superintendent  of  the  Public 
Schools  of  greater  New  York  for  the  past  fifteen  years.  Pre- 
vious to  this  he  was  for  eleven  years  Superintendent  of  Schools 
of  BrookljTi,  N.  Y.  The  length  of  time  he  has  occupied  these 
very  responsible  positions,  this  County  Tyrone  man,  must  have 
given  unmistakable  evidence  that  he  is  the  possessor  of  a  won- 
derful adaptability  for  organization  and  supervision.  He  was 
not  only  born  in  Ireland,  but  received  his  education  in  that 
Island  and  did  not  come  to  America  until  he  was  twenty-five 
years  of  age. 

And  that  legion  of  teachers  in  the  public  schools  of  Irish 
blood,  men  and  women,  among  them  Margaret  Healey  and 
Catherine  Goggin  of  Chicago,  who  have  fought  so  determinedly 
and  persistently  for  the  rights  of  teachers  and  better  conditions 
for  teachers  and  pupils,  and  whose  efforts  have  been  attended 
with  such  excellent  results,  which  enables  all  the  members  of 
the  profession  of  teaching  to  give  the  best  that  is  within  them 
for  the  future  progress  and  glory  of  America. 

From  early  colonial  times  to  the  present  day,  Irish  brawn 
has  been  instrumental  in  developing  the  natural  resources  of 
this  continent.  It  has  been  evident  in  every  kind  of  manual 
labor,  not  only  in  the  large  cities,  but  in  towns,  villages  and 
hamlets.  They  have  constructed  roads,  built  railroads,  dug 
canals,  and  as  one  writer  says,  "They  have  carried  cities  on 
their  backs."  They  have  worked  mines  and  run  factories. 
They  have  worked  hard  and  withal  with  the  greatest  amount  of 
good  nature,  and  many  of  the  greatest  edifices  in  this  country 
are  resting  on  foundations  that  were  laid  by  the  hands  of  Irish 
tradesmen.  Irish  brain  has  been  represented  in  all  the  most 
important  offices  in  the  gift  of  Nation,  State  and  Municipality. 
Eight  of  our  Presidents  have  been  the  recipients  of  a  generous 
infusion  of  Irish  blood.    Many  of  our  ambassadors  have  been 


280  IREDAND'S  CONTRIBUTION  TO  AMERICAN  PROGRESS 

Irish  or  of  Irish  descent,  Justices  of  all  Courts  from  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  the  United  States  down  to  the  District  Courts 
of  cities  and  towns  have  had  representatives  of  the  Irish  race; 
Members  of  Congress,  too  numerous  to  mention,  Governors  of 
States,  including  Joseph  M.  Carey  of  Wyoming,  father  of  the 
''Carey  Act,"  which  gave  to  the  Western  States  the  proper 
idea  of  irrigation;  Edward  F.  Dunne  of  Illinois,  McGovern  of 
Wisconsin,  Burke  of  North  Dakota,  Tener  of  Philadelphia, 
Higgins  of  Rhode  Island,  and  our  own  beloved  and  splendid 
example  of  true  American  citizenshi}?.  Gov.  David  I.  Walsh  of 
Massachusetts. 

And  America  must  remember  the  many  sacrifices  and  de- 
privations of  the  Irish  sons  and  daughters  who  labored  in  fac- 
tories, mercantile  establishments,  offices  and  the  divers  other 
humming  industries  whose  unceasing  toil  and  pure  lives  placed 
within  reach  of  other  sisters  and  brothers  the  j^ossibility  of  the 
attainment  of  honorable  and  trustworthy  positions. 

We  might  speak  of  the  uplifting  effect  that  the  drama  has 
exercised  in  the  progress  of  American  ideals  and  mention  the 
names  of  Lawrence  Barrett,  Dion  Bouccicault,  John  Brougham, 
Bartley  Campbell,  Augustin  Daly,  Joseph  Jefferson,  John  Mc- 
Cullough,  Barney  Williams,  among  those  of  Irish  extraction. 

The  roll  of  honor  of  celebrated  Irish  Divines  is  a  long  one 
of  men  who  have  achieved  notable  prominence  in  their  chosen 
field  of  labor,  and  who  have  been  most  potent  factors  in  everj^- 
thing  that  pertains  to  the  gTeat  moral  strides  that  have  been 
made  in  American  advancement.  We  do  not  have  to  go  very 
far  back  to  find  the  names  of  some  of  those  eminent  citizens. 
But  from  the  earliest  times  many  of  our  most  noted  clergymen, 
both  Catholic  and  Protestant,  have  been  Irish.  Among  Prot- 
estants, Dr.  John  Hall  and  Dr.  William  Rainsford,  are  names 
that  were  reverred  on  account  of  their  broadness  of  mind,  while 
among  Catholics,  the  eminent  Cardinals,  whose  sympathetic 
and  tolerant  characters  have  won  them  a  large  place  in  the  af- 
fections of  the  American  people. 

With  such  master  minds  as  those  of  Archbishops  Ireland, 
Keane,  Glennon,  and  many  others,  besides  the  great  number  of 
Bishops,  devoted  pastors  and  self-sacrificing  curates,  many  of 
whom  have  won  national  fame,  in  the  exposition  of  the  princi- 
ples of  truth,  moderation  and  justice.  We  have  not  referred  to 
Ireland's  contributions  to  the  professions  or  in  the  domain  of 
American  literature.  These  subjects  will  be  considered  in  fu- 
ture lectures  and  we  have  no  doubt  that  the  list  of  Irish  names 
prominent  in  these  fields  will  be  alike  worthy  and  creditable. 
But  from  all  that  we  have  said,  does  it  not  seem  truly  won- 


HON.  JOHN  T.   DUGGAN  281 

derful  that  a  race  of  people,  suffering  for  liimdreds  of  years 
from  persecution  and  intolerance,  with  their  industry  and  ener- 
gies paralyzed  by  an  odious  and  iniquitous  system  of  tj^rannical 
rule,  with  a  gross  misrepresentation  of  her  ancient  history  and 
illustrious  development  in  learning,  law,  music  and  architect- 
ure, with  her  literature  including  previous  manuscripts  record- 
ing momentous  facts  of  many  centuries  either  destroyed  or 
hidden  from  the  world,  with  even  her  native  language  abol- 
ished, and  the  teaching  of  which  was  made  a  felony  for  one 
hundred  years,  with  all  these  and  many  other  deprivations — 
does  it  not  see^l  amazing  that  the  Irish  race,  or  any  other  race 
of  people  under  like  circumstances  could  ever  thrive  in  any  land 
or  under  any  sun?  All  these  men  by  their  nature  loved  Ireland, 
even  though  she  was  poor,  distressed  and  suffering,  and  they 
loved  America  with  both  heart  and  head,  for  it  had  given  them 
freedom,  homes  and  honorable  careers,  and  what  they  could 
have  given  to  their  own  native  land,  under  different  conditions, 
they  contributed  to  America  for  her  glory  and  her  progress. 

We  have  purposely  refrained  during  the  course  of  our  re- 
marks from  the  use  of  the  term  ' '  Scotch  Irish, ' '  which  to  us  is 
a  very  dubious  one,  a  gigantic  bubble  which,  when  pierced  with 
the  needle  of  investigation,  explodes  and  releases  a  wonderful 
volume  of  air  with  an  exceedingly  high  temperature. 

Many  of  those  Irishmen,  whose  parents  emigrated  from  the 
North  of  Ireland,  like  those  of  Horace  Greeley,  the  celebrated 
American  Journalist,  are  called  Scotch-Irish  in  some  of  their 
biographies,  which  many  anti-Irish  writers  are  in  the  habit  of 
calling  all  North  of  Irelanders.  This  is  seemingly  one  of  the 
fraudulent  ways  by  which  Ireland  is  robbed  or  at  least  striven 
to  be,  of  the  credit  and  honor  of  her  children.  To  show  the  ab- 
surdity of  this  Scotch-Irish  term,  we  need  only  remember  that 
the  rebellion  of  1798  was  mainly  supported  and  maintained  by 
the  Irish  Protestants  of  the  North.  They  founded  a  secret  so- 
ciety known  by  the  name  of  ''United  Irishmen,"  and  in  that 
war,  which  only  lasted  five  months  and  which  cost  England 
anywhere  from  $150,000,000  to  $250,000,000,  Lord  Edward 
Fitzgerald  and  Wolfe  Tone  died,  and  of  the  leaders  of  the 
United  Irishmen  fully  two-thirds  were  Protestants  and  Presby- 
terians. And  it  was  Irish  Protestants  of  the  same  kind,  or  their 
brethren,  as  devoted  and  patriotic  Irish  as  men  could  be,  who 
mainly  settled  the  Northern  parts  of  New  England  before  the 
days  of  the  Eevolution  and  who  were,  with  their  Irish  fire  and 
eloquence,  the  great  inspirers  of  the  American  people  in  their 
determined  and  successful  resistance  to  British  tyranny,  and 
well  they  might,  as  they  brought  over  with  them  from  the  old 


282  IRELAND'S  CONTRIBUTION  TO  AMERlIlCAN  PROGRESS 

land  an  undying  hatred  to  English  oppression  and  English 
perfidy. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  say  that  such  is  not  a  Scotch  failing, 
for  they  seem  to  take  a  pride  as  a  rule  in  outdoing  Englishmen 
themselves  in  loyalty  to  the  British  Crown. 

It  has  been  said  that  Irishmen  have  faults.  Yes,  we  freely 
admit  that  this  is  true;  but,  let  the  nation  or  historian  or  anj^ 
man  who  is  without  the  same  cast  the  stone  of  accusation.  But 
we  feel  as  though  we  may  reasonably  assume  that  when  the 
ledger  is  opened  and  a  balance  is  struck,  the  virtues  of  the  Irish 
race  will  greatly  outnumber  their  many  imperfections. 

And  for  what  purpose  is  this  all  written!  Is  it  to  engender 
prejudice  in  those  who  may  mistake  the  motives  that  were  in 
the  mind  of  the  writer  and  to  influence  the  distinction  of  class 
against  class  in  all  that  pertains  to  the  advancement  and  pros- 
perity of  this  great  Republic  of  the  Western  world?  Positively 
and  emphatically  we  answer  in  the  negative.  With  a  very 
generous  infusion  of  Irish  blood  in  our  veins,  as  children  of 
Irish  parents,  whose  hands  were  calloused  and  shriveled  in  ob- 
taining the  necessary  means  for  bestowing  on  their  children 
an  education  of  which  they  were  so  cruelly  denied,  we  take  a 
pardonable  pride  in  beholding  the  names  of  those  of  our  own 
race,  taking  a  prominent  place  with  other  builders  of  this  na- 
tion, and  those  hundreds  of  others  less  conspicuous  perhaps, 
whose  deeds  and  whose  sacrifices  were  instrumental  in  a  great 
degree  for  the  blessings  we  now  inherit.  The  names  we  have 
mentioned  are  only  a  few  from  the  long  list  that  could  be  pro- 
duced, but  which  answer  our  purpose  in  direct  refutation  of 
the  charges  of  those  malefactors  who  have  misrepresented  the 
true  characteristics  of  the  Irish  people  and  falsely  given  them 
the  appellation  of  "weak,  lazy,  broken,  miserable,  purposeless 
incapables,  to  contradict  the  statements  that  the  Irish  race 
were  dreamers  about  ancient  greatness  that  was  all  a  lie,  and 
about  future  freedom  and  honor  that  were  all  a  delusion,  and 
that  God  and  nature  had  made  them  past  and  future  subjects 
to  the  wise,  good,  unselfish,  gentle  English  nation  that  went 
about  the  world  helping  weak  countries  to  be  free  and  civilized 
and  Christian." 

These  were  the  true  motives  that  prompted  us  to  dilate 
in  a  very  humble  way  on  some  of  the  achievements  of  the  Irish 
race  in  America.  To  show  that  they  were  willing  to  make  any 
sacrifice  for  the  attainment  of  honorable  and  praise  worthy 
ends.  They  despised  religious  intolerance.  Irish  Catholics 
loved  men  like  Emmet,  Wolfe  Tone,  Plunkett  and  Henry  Grat- 
tan,  although  they  were  of  a  different  religious  persuasion; 


HON.  JOHN  T.  DUGGAN  28S 

they  admired  them  because  they  loved  Ireland,  and  more  es- 
pecially from  the  fact  that  these  noblemen  had  the  courage  of 
their  convictions  and  the  fearlessness  to  express  them. 

''Rise  in  the  silence  of  these  silent  years 
Rise  while  the  unwrit  stone  is  rolled  away 
And  us  to  higher,  nobler  accents  move 
Proud  Emmet  of  the  lion-heart. ' ' 

''When  my  country  shall  have  taken  her  stand  among  the 
nations  of  the  earth,  then,  and  not  till  then,  let  my  epitaph  be 
written,"  corned  ringing  down  through  all  the  years,  and  his 
last  request  has  ever  remained  sacred,  for  no  artisan  as  yet  has 
chiseled  the  stone  that  marks  the  site  of  his  lonely  grave,  but 
his  epitaph  is  written  deep  down  in  the  hearts  of  every  true 
son  and  daughter  of  Erin  and  all  their  lineal  descendants,  in- 
spiring them  with  the  thought  that  love  of  country,  secondary 
only  to  love  of  God,  should  be  one  of  the  principal  aims  of  our 
lives.  Love  of  country,  love  of  neighbor;  mindful  of  the  glor- 
ious deeds  and  great  sacrifices  of  our  ancestors,  by  imitating 
their  example  we  shall  perpetuate  their  memories  by  safe- 
guarding the  precious  legacies  that  have  been  bequeathed  to 
us  and  that  all  our  energies  whether  in  civil,  religious  or  in- 
dustrial life,  shall  be  exerted  in  behalf  of  the  moral,  physical 
and  intellectual  growth  of  these,  our  own  bright,  glorious  and 
free  United  States  of  America — your  home  and  mine. 


Michael  F.  Fallon,  M.  D. 


Dr.  Michael  F.  Fallon  is  a  native  of  Worcester, 
Mass.,  born  July  16,  1863,  son  of  James  Fallon  and 
^tary  (Dyer)  Fallon.  He  attended  the  Worcester 
g-rammar  schools  and  completed  his  studies  in  the  Wor- 
cester Classical  High  School  in  1881.  He  was  grad- 
uated from  Holy  Cross  College  in  1884,  and  from  the 
Harvard  Medical  School  in  1887.  He  spent  two  years 
at  Heidelberg,  Vienna  and  Strassberg  in  post  graduate 
studies. 

Dr.  Fallon  has  been  surgeon-in-chief  ^t  St.  Vincent 
Hospital,  Worcester,  for  a  number  of  years.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society  and  a 
Fellow  of  the  American  College  of  Surgeons.  He  is  a 
Director  of  the  Worcester  Free  Public  Library.  Dr. 
I'^illon  is  married  to  Ella  J.  Ford,  formerly  of  Spring- 
field, Mass. 


©Ij^  Jrtfilj  in  il^Jitritt^  an5  Bmi^tv^ 


-BY- 


DR.  MICHAEL  F.   FALLON 


The  study  of  the  lives  of  prominent  Irish  physicians  re- 
quires the  study* of  the  history  of  many  nations,  since  during  a 
long  period  owing  to  the  penal  laws,  a  youth  was  not  permitted 
to  study  medicine  in  Ireland.  But  Ireland's  loss  was  the  gain 
of  other  nations,  since  we  find  doctors  of  Irish  descent  promin- 
ent in  nearly  all  the  countries  of  Europe.  And  during  the  time 
of  the  penal  laws,  some  of  these  exiled  Irish  men,  became  pro- 
fessors of  medicine  in  various  universities  of  the  continent,  and 
some  of  them  became  leading  physicians,  and  even  attending 
physicians  to  the  rulers  of  continental  countries. 

Dr.  O'Hagan  was  royal  physician  in  Spain  in  the  time  of 
Charles  V.  Dr.  Quinlan  became  physician  to  the  Emperor  of 
Russia ;  and  in  France,  George  Mareschall  became  the  first  sur- 
geon to  King  Louis  XIV.  The  life  of  Dr.  Mareschall  reads  like 
a  romance.  He  was  the  son  of  an  Irish  captain  of  cavalry  who 
served  under  Louis  XIII,  and  born  at  Calais,  France,  in  1685. 
He  was  left  an  orphan  at  the  age  of  thirteen.  He  went  to  Paris, 
and  aspired  to  be  a  surgeon.  He  was  penniless,  and  without 
friends.  He  obtained  a  position  as  physician  in  one  of  the 
convent  hospitals,  and  such  was  his  ability  and  industry,  that 
he  was  appointed  attending  surgeon  to  the  Charity  hospital. 
He  was  called  in  consultation  when  Louis  XIV  was  suffering 
from  a  severe  illness,  and  was  given  credit  for  saving  the  King's 
life. 

After  this,  his  rise  was  phenomenally  rapid,  and  in  1703, 
Dr.  Mareschall  became  first  surgeon  to  the  King,  and  during 
the  remainder  of  the  King's  life,  Mareschall  was  not  only  his 
attending  surgeon,  but  also  his  confidential  adviser.  He  was 
raised  to  the  nobility  by  Louis,  and  when  Louis  XIV  died,  Mare- 
schall was  appointed  first  surgeon  to  Louis  XV.  In  addition  to 
the  high  standing  in  court  circles.  Dr.  Mareschall  was  noted 
for  his  successful  efforts  to  elevate  the  practice  of  surgery 
throughout  France.  He  was  made  chief  of  surgery  of  the  king- 
dom, and  organized  surgical  practice  in  such  a  way,  that  all 


286  THE  IRISH   IN  MEDICHNB  AND  SURGERY 

surgical  study,  and  license  to  practice  surgery,  came  under  the 
control  of  the  chief  of  surgery.  He  founded  the  Eoyal  Academy 
of  Surgery  in  1732.  He  was  the  recipient  of  many  honors,  and 
when  he  died,  in  1736,  he  was  held  in  the  highest  esteem  and 
affection  by  the  Court,  and  by  his  colleagues,  because  of  his 
noble  character  and  untarnished  reputation. 

During  the  time  of  the  penal  laws,  while  it  was  not  permit- 
ted an  Irish  Catholic  to  study  medicine  in  Ireland,  still,  he 
could,  after  having  taken  his  degree  in  a  foreign  country,  re- 
turn to  Ireland  to  practice  medicine.  A  glimpse  of  such  a  phy- 
sician of  the  17th  century  is  given  us  in  a  charming  descrip- 
tion by  Dr.  James  Walsh. 

Dr.  Thomas  Arthur  of  Limerick,  the  leading  physician  of 
Ireland  in  his  day,  was  a  contemporary  of  Harvey,  the  famous 
physician  who  gave  us  our  first  knowledge  of  the  circulation 
of  the  blood.  This  was  in  the  early  part  of  the  17th  century. 
Dr.  Arthur  had  to  go  to  France  to  study  medicine,  and  when 
he  returned  to  Ireland,  he  in  time  became  a  famous  physician. 
His  case  book,  which  was  written  in  Latin,  has  been  made 
known  to  us  by  Dr.  Walsh. 

This  book  contains  an  account  of  some  very  interesting 
diseases,  and  also  of  some  of  the  Doctor's  patients.  Although 
he  was  recognized  as  a  skillful  physician,  the  fact  of  his  being 
Catholic,  debarred  him  from  practice  arhong  society  people; 
but  even  bigotry  had  to  yield  to  his  skill.  Dr.  Walsh  gives  us 
an  interesting  account  of  his  successful  treatment  of  the  famous 
Protestant  Archbishop  Usslier.  The  Archbishop,  whom  Dr. 
Arthur  calls  the  "pseudo-primate  of  Armagh,"  had  been  under 
the  care  of  the  royal  physician  of  England,  and  had  obtained  no 
relief.  In  despair,  he  turned  to  Dr.  Arthur,  who  diagnosed  his 
case,  and  treated  it  successfully.  Dr.  Arthur  says  in  reference 
to  his  treatment  of  the  Archbishop,  ^ '  My  hopes  were  not  disap- 
pointed. The  grave  and  absorbing  malady,  which  had  eluded 
all  the  efforts  of  my  distinguished  colleagues  in  England,  in  a 
man  so  eminent  and  conspicuous  for  his  erudition,  and  which 
now  yielded  to  my  efforts,  made  me  celebrated  and  welcome 
among  the  English,  though  before  this,  because  of  my  Catholic- 
ity, I  had  been  thoroughly  detested." 

What  a  sad,  sad  commentary  on  the  times  is  this  last  sen- 
tence! A  good  man,  and  a  skillful  physician,  thoroughly  de- 
tested because  of  his  Catholicity! 

And  despite  such  treatment,  it  was  of  Irish  Catholics  that 
the  Duke  of  Wellington,  an  Irishman  and  a  Protestant,  said, 
^'It  is  mainly  to  the  Irish  Catholics  that  we  all  owe  our  proud 
pre-eminence  in  our  military  career." 


DR.  MICHAEL  F.   FALLON  287 

There  is  probably  no  museum  in  the  world,  that  contains 
material  of  greater  interest  in  scientific  value,  than  the  British 
museum.  The  founder  of  the  collection  that  formed  the  basis 
of  the  museum  was  an  Irishman,  Dr.  Hans  Sloane,  born  in  Ire- 
land, in  1660. 

He  not  alone  was  a  celebrated  physician,  but  was  eminent 
as  a  botanist  and  a  chemist.  He,  at  one  time,  was  chief  physi- 
cian to  the  English  West  Indian  fleet,  and  made  a  remarkable 
collection  of  the  fauna  and  flora  of  Jamaica.  Many  honors  were 
I)estowed  upon  him,  the  greatest  honor  was  when  he  was  made 
President  of  the  Royal  Society,  succeeding  Sir  Isaac  Newton. 
His  industry  iji  collecting  scientific  material  was  remarkable, 
and  his  immense  collection  from  which  the  British  museum  had 
its  origin,  contained  about  forty-four  thousand  books,  manu- 
scripts, and  drawings;  thirty- two  thousand  medals  and  coins; 
one  thousand  one  hundred  antiques;  three  thousand  cameos, 
seals,  and  precious  stones;  five  hundred  vessels  of  agate  and 
jasper;  eighteen  hundred  crystals;  six  thousand  shells,  and 
many  other  scientific  objects. 

Another  Irishman  who  was  a  surgeon  in  a  foreign  country, 
was  Barry  Edward  O'Meara,  who  was  surgeon  to  Napoleon 
Bonaparte  at  St.  Helena.  Dr.  O'Meara  was  born  in  Ireland,  and 
was  the  naval  surgeon  on  the  Bellerophon  in  1815,  when  Napol- 
eon surrendered  on  board  that  vessel.  He  became  a  favorite  of 
Napoleon,  and  at  Napoleon's  request,  was  sent  with  him  to  St. 
Helena,  as  his  medical  attendant.  Dr.  0  'Meara  died  in  London 
in  1836.  His  grand-daughter,  a  resident  of  Paris,  was  a  cele- 
brated literary  woman.  She  wrote  under  the  pen  name  of  Grace 
Eamsey. 

THE  IRISH  SCHOOL  OF    MEDICINE 

Towards  the  middle  of  the  19tli  century,  Dublin  became 
one  of  the  most  famous  medical  centers  of  the  world.  Physi- 
cians came  from  everywhere  to  study  under  Drs.  Graves,  Stokes 
and  Corrigan.  The  most  prominent  of  this  trio  was  Dr.  Graves, 
who  received  his  medical  degree  at  the  University  of  Dublin, 
in  1818,  and  then  spent  three  years  in  study  in  the  leading  hos- 
pitals of  Europe,  Dr.  Graves  was  an  original  investigator,  and 
he  revolutionized  certain  medical  practises  that  had  held  sway 
for  centuries.  He  instituted  new  methods  of  treatment  in  some 
fevers,  in  diseases  of  the  chest,  and  in  certain  intestinal  diseas- 
es. The  benefits  that  he  conferred  on  mankind  by  his  changes 
in  the  treatment  of  fevers  alone,  entitle  him  to  immortality  in 
medical  biography. 


288  THE   IRISH    IN   MEDICINE    AND    SURGERY 

Previous  to  this  time,  it  had  always  been  the  practice  ta 
starve  fevers.  Dr.  Graves  changed  this,  and  instituted  the 
method  known  as  '.'forced  feeding."  He  contended  that  fever 
patients  with  their  senses  benumbed  would  not  call  for  food, 
and  might  die  from  starvation,  unless  they  were  fed  sufficiently/ 
Under  his  treatment  of  feeding  patients,  the  results  were  im- 
measurably better  than  with  the  former  treatment,  when  such 
patients  were  starved. 

One  day,  when  Dr.  Graves  was  visiting  the  hospital,  he 
commented  on  the  healthy  appearance  of  some  patients  who 
had  gone  through  a  long  siege  of  tjq^hus  fever,  and  he  exclaim- 
ed, "This  is  all  the  effects  of  good  feeding:  and  lest,  when  I  am 
gone,  you  may  be  at  a  loss  for  an  epitaph. for  me,  let  me  give 
you  one  in  three  words:  'He  fed  fevers.'  " 

Dr.  Graves  likewise  revolutionized  the  treatment  of  con- 
sumption, and  the  methods  that  are  in  use  today,  are  practical- 
ly those  that  he  instituted.  Previous  to  this,  consumption  was 
held  to  be  an  inflammatory  disease,  and  the  patient  was  con- 
fined to  the  house,  protected  from  the  cold,  with  but  very  little 
attention  to  diet.  Dr.  Graves  proved  that  this  was  the  wrong 
treatment,  advised  the  consumptive  to  stay  out  of  doors,  and 
take  plenty  of  nourishment.  His  treatment  of  consumption  in- 
stituted  almost  one  hundred  years  ago,  is  the  treatment  in  use 
today,  and  it  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  although  Dr.  Graves 
proved  that  the  old  time  treatment  of  consumption  was  wrong, 
and  although  he  advocated  fresh  air,  plenty  of  nourishment, 
proper  bathing,  yet  his  methods  did  not  become  generally 
adopted  until  recently. 

Dr.  Graves  gave  an  original  description  of  the  disease 
known  as  "Exophthalmic  Goitre,"  and  this  disease  is  generally 
known  as  ' '  Graves '  Disease. ' '  He  made  very  valuable  and  life 
saving  contributions  on  the  causation  and  spread  of  cholera, 
and  he  was  the  first  to  show  clearly,  that  cholera  travelled,  and 
travelled  only  along  lines  of  human  contact. 

Dr.  Graves  was  remarkable  in  many  ways  other  than  in  his 
proficiency  in  medicine.  When  a  youth,  travelling  on  the  con- 
tinent of  Europe,  he  once  met  a  famous  artist,  Turner.  They 
became  congenial  companions,  and  travelled  together  for 
months  in  Bohemian  style  without  even  knowing  or  asking  each 
other's  names.  One  time,  during  a  storm  in  the  Mediterranean, 
Graves  put  down  a  mutiny  on  board  ship,  smashing  the  life- 
boat with  an  axe,  overpowered  the  panic  stricken  captain,  took 
command  of  the  crew,  repaired  the  leaking  pumps  with  leather 
from  his  own  boots,  and  successfully  brought  the  vessel  into 
port,  through  his  competent  seamanship. 


DR.  MICHAEL   F.   FALLON  289 

Dr.  Stokes,  another  of  the  leaders  of  the  Irish  School  of 
Medicine,  was  a  friend  of  Dr.  Graves.  Stokes'  father  was  a 
professor  of  medicine  in  Trinity  College.  Stokes,  as  a  boy,  was 
not  studious,  and  preferred  like  many  of  the  boys  of  the  pres- 
ent day,  the  reading  of  novels  and  poetry  to  study.  He  was  the 
despair  of  his  parents.    But  a  change  came  over  him. 

''One  day,  while  reading  a  novel,  he  fell  asleep,  but  short- 
ly afterward  was  awakened  by  some  warm  drops  falling  on  his 
face,  started  up,  and  saw  his  mother  bending  over  him.  Her 
tears  had  awakened  him.  Stung  with  remorse,  at  having  been 
the  cause  of  so  much  suffering,  his  nature  appeared  to  undergo 
a  complete  and  fealutary  change,  and  the  dreamy,  indolent  boy 
suddenly  became  the  ardent,  enthusiastic  student." 

Dr.  Stokes  received  his  medical  education  in  Edinburg,  and 
when  he  returned  to  Dublin,  he  was  elected  physician  to  Meatli 
hospital,  succeeding  his  father.  Drs.  Stokes  and  Graves  worked 
harmoniously  together  in  this  hopsital  for  almost  thirty  years, 
and  after  Dr.  Graves'  death,  Dr.  Stokes  was  considered  to  be 
the  ablest  physicial  in  Europe.  He  was  especially  proficient  in 
diseases  of  the  chest  and  of  the  lungs.  Even  today,  his  book 
on  diseases  of  the  heart  is  authoritative,  and  many  of  his  orig- 
inal observations  on  the  lungs  and  on  the  heart  are  still  uni- 
versally accepted.  Certain  forms  of  heart  disease  have  been 
named  after  Dr.  Graves  and  Dr.  Stokes.  Both  Dr.  Graves  and 
Dr.  Stokes  were  noted  for  their  kindness  to  the  poor. 

The  third  member  of  the  Irish  school  of  medicine  was  Sir 
Dominick  Corrigan,  who  was  an  authority  especially  on  heart 
diseases.  His  investigations  on  certain  kinds  of  heart  diseas- 
es were  so  accurate,  and  his  descriptions  so  perfect,  tliat  even 
today  they  are  considered  authoritative.  The  remarkable  thing 
about  this  masterpiece  was  that  it  was  written  seven  years  after 
his  graduation,  and  from  a  study  of  patients  in  a  hospital  so 
small,  that  it  had  only  six  beds.  Dr.  Walsh  says  of  this  achieved 
ment,  ' '  He  did  not  visit  his  hospital  merely  to  see  his  patients, 
but  to  study  the  cases  carefully.  His  success  is  only  another 
examjjle  of  the  necessity  for  seeing  much,  and  not  so  many 
things,  if  there  is  to  be  any  real  progress.  Now-a-days,  physi- 
cians scarcely  consider  that  they  have  any  hospital  experience, 
unless  they  are  attending  physician  to  several  hospitals,  seeing 
at  least  one  hundred  patients  a  week. 

The  result  is  that  patients  do  not  receive  the  skilled  care 
they  should,  and  that  advance  in  medicine  suffers  because  of 
the  opportunities  for  clinical  observations,  while  a  busy  attend- 
ing physician  rushes  through  a  ward,  and  the  resident  physi- 
cian has  only  time  for  routine  work  that  enables  him  to  keep 


290  THE    IRISH    IN   MEDICINE    AND    SURGERY 

just  sufficiently  in  touch  with  the  progress  of  his  cases  to  satis- 
fy the  hurrying  chief  surgeon. 

Through  the  original  investigations  of  these  three  men, 
Graves,  Stokes  and  Corrigan,  real  advances  were  made  in  med- 
icine, and  many  of  the  older  theories  and  practices  were  revo- 
lutionized. 

SOME  IRISH  DOCTORS  IN  AMERICAN  HISTORY 

It  is  well  known  that  the  Irish  who  were  in  America  enlist- 
ed in  large  numbers  in  the  Revolutionary  army,  and  fought 
vigorously  for  the  independence  of  America.  Many  Irish  doc- 
tors were  prominent,  not  alone  for  their  professional  services, 
but  also  in  organizing  the  army. 

Colonel  Edward  Hand  and  Colonel  William  Irving  helped 
to  organize  companies  in  Pennsylvania.  They  had  previously 
served  as  surgeons  in  the  British  army,  and  their  services  were 
valuable  in  the  Colonial  army.  Among  the  most  noted  patriots 
leading  up  to  the  Revolution,  was  Dr.  Matthew  Thornton,  and 
his  is  the  last  named  signed  to  the  most  famous  of  all  American 
documents — the  Declaration  of  Independence. 

Matthew  Thornton  was  born  in  Ireland,  in  1714,  his  peo- 
ple emigrated  to  America,  and  they  settled  in  our  own  city  of 
Worcester.  Here  he  was  educated.  He  practiced  medicine  in 
Londonderry,  New  Hampshire,  and  was  a  very  successful  phy- 
sician. He  was  a  surgeon  in  the  New  Ham]:>shire  division  of  the 
army  in  the  expedition  against  Loisberg. 

He  took  a  prominent  part  in  the  political  agitation  against 
the  British  government,  was  a  member  of  the  convention  which 
declared  New  Hampshire  to  be  a  sovereign  state,  and  was 
elected  its  President. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  Continental  Congress  from  1776- 
1778.  After  the  Revolution,  he  was  the  recipient  of  many  hon- 
ors, among  them  a  position  on  the  Supreme  Bench  of  the  State. 
He  died  in  Newburyport,  Mass.,  in  1783. 

The  first  governor  of  Delaware,  or  as  it  was  then  called, 
the  ''President  of  the  State,"  was  Dr.  John  McKinley,  who  was 
born  in  Ireland  in  1721.  Preceding  the  Revolution,  he  was  bit- 
terly opposed  to  British  oppression,  and  became  a  fearless  and 
outspoken  patriot.    He  died  in  Wilmington,  in  1796. 

Dr.  James  McHenry  (1753-1816)  was  born  in  Ireland,  and  was 
a  prominent  surgeon  of  the  Revolution.  He  later  was  secretary 
of  war  in  Washington's  cabinet,  and  again  in  that  of  Adams. 
He  instituted  many  radical  and  effective  reformations  in  the 
army.    Fort  McHenry,  near  Baltimore,  is  named  in  his  honor. 


DR.  MICHAEL  F.   FALLON  29fl 

It  as  off  this  fort  that  Francis  Scott  Key,  while  a  prisoner  on 
a  British  man-o-war,  wrote  the  ' '  Star  Spangled  Banner. ' ' 

Dr.  Hugh  Williamson,  physician,  patriot,  and  scholar,  waa 
horn  in  Pennsylvania  in  1735  of  Irish  parents.  He  was  head  of 
the  medical  department  of  the  troops  of  North  Carolina  in  the 
Revolution.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Constitutional  Convention 
in  1786;  he  was  also  a  member  of  the  first  Congress  under  the 
new  Constitution.  He  contributed  many  valuable  articles  to 
medical  and  scientific  journals.  Even  in  those  early  days,  he 
prepared  a  plan  and  advocated  the  construction  of  a  canal  con- 
necting Lake  Erie  and  the  Hudson. 

Another  distinguished  physician  and  patriot  of  the  Revo- 
lution was  Dr.  David  Ramsey,  born  in  Pennsylvania  in  1749, 
son  of  an  Irishman.  He  became  well  known  for  his  valuable 
services  in  the  Revolution,  and  at  the  siege  of  Savannah  he 
won  marked  distinction.  He  became  a  member  of  the  Conti- 
nental Congress  in  1782,  and  was  its  acting  president  in  1785- 
1786,  while  Hancock  was  ill.  He  was  an  authority  in  both  med- 
ical and  historical  subjects,  and  among  his  publications  were, 
^'History  of  the  American  Revolution,"  1790;  ''Life  of  Wash- 
ington," 1801;  "History  of  South  Carolina,"  1808. 

In  1771  in  Virginia,  was  born  Dr.  Ephraim  McDowell,  one 
of  the  greatest  benefactors  of  the  human  race.  Dr.  McDowell 
was  of  Irish  ancestry.  He  has  been  called  ' '  The  Father  of  Ab- 
dominal Surgery."  In  1809,  he  for  the  first  time  in  history,  re- 
moved a  large  abdominal  tumor.  This  was  done  before  the  time 
of  anaesthetics,  and  he  did  not  have  even  trained  assistants. 
This  operation  opened  up  a  new  chapter  in  surgery,  and  Dr. 
McDowell,  in  accomplishing  this  operation  successfully,  con- 
ferred an  everlasting  benefit  upon  mankind.  He  performed 
this  same  kind  of  an  operation  at  least  eight  times  subsequent- 
ly. He  was  a  bold,  fearless  and  successful  surgeon,  performing 
various  kinds  of  major  operations.  Among  his  patients  was 
James  K.  Polk,  who  later  became  President  of  the  United 
States.    From  him,  he  removed  a  stone. 

Dr.  McDowell's  great  grandfather  came  from  Ireland,  and 
despite  the  fact  that  the  residence  of  his  ancestors  can  be  traced 
in  Ireland,  even  as  far  back  as  the  middle  of  the  17th  century, 
some  of  his  biographers  refer  to  him  as  Scotch-Irish.  And  it 
may  be  opportune  here-  to  quote  the  words  of  the  Duke  of  Ar- 
gyle  (Youth's  Companion,  Aug.  25,  1910),  as  to  the  kinship  of 
the  Scotch  and  Irish. 

' '  There  has  been  no  Walter  Scott  to  write  romantic  novels, 
to  direct  attention  to  the  glories  of  the  Irish  clan  feuds  and  am« 
l)itions.    But  the  very  name  of  Scots  is  Irish,  and  Ireland  was 


292  THE   IRISH   IN   MEDICINE   AND   SURGERY 

Scotia,  or  the  land  of  the  Scots,  and  it  was  only  anothed  migra- 
tion of  Celts  from  Ireland  to  Scotland,  that  gave  modern  Scot- 
land its  name.  The  Scots  from  Ireland  came  there  displacing 
the  tenants  in  possession,  the  poor  Picts,  of  whom  so  little  is 
now  said  or  heard." 

From  this  description  of  the  Scots,  from  the  most  eminent 
authority,  the  opprobrious  epithet  of  Scotch-Irish  should  be 
changed  to  that  of  Irish-Irish. 

During  the  Eevolutionary  period,  there  was  born  in  New* 
buryport,  Mass.,  Dr.  James  Jackson.  He  was  the  son  of  Jona- 
than Jackson,  who  was  born  in  Ireland.  In  his  day,  there  was 
no  more  prominent  physician  in  New  England  than  Dr.  Jack- 
son; he  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Massachusetts  General 
Hospital,  of  which  he  was  the  first  physician.  He  was  made  a 
professor  at  Harvard  in  1812,  and  for  many  years  was  Presi- 
dent of  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society.  In  addition  to  be- 
ing a  distinguished  physician,  he  was  also  a  noted  author. 

Of  his  son.  Dr.  James  Jackson,  Jr.,  who  was  fitted  to  take 
up  the  work  of  his  illustrious  father,  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes 
said:  ''His  early  death  was  a  calamity  to  the  profession  of 
which  he  promised  to  be  a  chief  ornament." 

Dr.  Holmes  wrote  this  beautiful  description  of  Dr.  James 
Jackson,  Sr. :  ''First  of  all,  he  truly  loved  his  profession;  he 
had  no  intellectual  ambitions  outside  of  it,  literary,  scientific 
or  political;  to  him  it  was  occupation  enough  to  apply  at  the 
bedside  the  best  of  all  that  he  knew,  for  the  good  of  his  patient; 
to  teach  the  young,  all  that  he  himself  had  been  taught,  with 
all  that  his  own  experience  had  added ;  to  leave  on  record,  some 
of  the  most  important  results  of  his  own  observation.  The  com- 
munity trusted  and  loved  him;  the  profession  recognized  him 
as  the  noblest  type  of  physician. ' ' 

In  St.  Paul's  church  yard  in  New  York,  is  a  monument  to 
Dr.  William  J.  MacNevin,  with  this  inscription:  "This  was 
erected  by  the  Irishmen  of  the  United  States,  in  grateful  ac- 
knowledgement of  his  services  to  his  native  land,  and  of  the 
devotion  of  his  after  life  to  the  interests  of  his  adopted  coun- 
try." 

Dr.  MacNevin  was  born  in  Galway,  Ireland,  in  1736.  His 
uncle,  Baron  MacNevin,  was  physician  to  the  Empress  Maria 
Teresa  in  Prague,  Young  Dr.  MacNevin,  prevented  by  the 
penal  laws  from  getting  a  medical  education  in  Ireland,  went  to 
his  uncle  in  Bohemia,  and  there  received  his  education.  He  lat- 
er became  a  successful  physician  in  Dublin,  but  owing  to  his 
patriotic  activities,  he  was  imprisoned  by  the  English  govern- 
ment in  Fort  George,  Scotland.    He  was  liberated  from  prison^ 


DR.  MICHAEL  P.   FALLON  293 

and  went  to  France,  where  he  held  for  some  time,  a  captain's 
position  in  tlie  Irish  brigade,  which  was  a  part  of  Napoleon's 
army,  under  his  direct  command.  He  went  from  France  to  New 
York,  where  owing  to  his  ability,  he  became  a  prominent  and 
honored  physician.  He  did  all  in  his  power  to  improve  the  con- 
dition of  his  fellow  Irishmen,  both  professionally  and  other- 
wise. In  1816,  he  established  a  free  labor  bureau  in  New  York, 
at  his  own  expense,  and  maintained  it  for  many  years  to  aid 
the  Irish  emigrant  in  getting  employment,  and  this  was  the 
first  agency  of  its  kind  in  New  York.  He  gave  his  professional 
services  free  to  all  his  countrymen  who  needed  them.  Dr.  Em- 
met said  of  hii;^:  ''He  was  a  remarkably  handsome  man,  with 
beautiful  black  eyes,  rather  under  sized,  and  when  his  features 
were  in  repose,  he  had  the  saddest  expression  I  ever  saw  any- 
one have.  He  lived  in  the  recollection  of  the  past,  and  he  car- 
ried to  the  grave,  this  sorrow  for  the  apparently  hopeless  con- 
dition of  his  native  country. ' ' 

One  of  the  leading  surgeons  of  this  country  in  his  day,  was 
Dr.  Thomas  Addis  Emmet,  who  was  born  in  Virginia  in  1828. 
Dr.  Emmet's  grand  uncle  was  Robert  Emmet,  the  Irish  mar- 
tyr. In  1850,  Dr.  Emmet  was  resident  physician  to  the  emi- 
grant refuge  hospital  on  Ward's  Island  in  New  York,  It  was 
Dr.  Emmet's  duty  to  care  for  sick  emigrants  in  the  hospitals, 
and  about  this  time  several  hundred  thousand  emigrants  came 
to  New  York  as  a  result  of  the  famine  in  Ireland.  Dr.  Emmet 
gives  a  very  vivid  account  of  the  sufferings  of  these  poor  emi- 
grants, many  of  whom  actually  died,  after  landing,  in  the 
streets  of  New  York,  and  his  description  of  the  condition  of 
these  people  has  a  particular  interest  for  many  of  us  of  Irish 
descent  in  this  community  whose  parents  were  in  this  ex- 
odus. 

He  said  that  many  of  the  emigrant  ships  were  not  even 
seaworthy,  and  at  times,  they  took  five  months  to  make  the 
voyage  to  New  York.  He  says  the  sufferings  of  the  emigrants 
aboard  ship  was  greater  than  on  any  slave  ship,  and  the  death 
rate  was  larger  than  it  would  have  been  from  any  pestilence  on 
shore.  No  emigrant  ship  then  carried  a  physician,  and  there 
was  no  help  for  those  stricken  with  fever. 

Dr.  Emmet  knew  of  several  instances  where  one-half  of 
the  passengers  had  died,  and  had  been  thrown  overboard  before 
the  voyage  was  concluded.  Generally,  on  the  arrival  of  the 
ship,  all  remained  below  in  a  helpless  condition  as  many  had 
been  for  days  without  the  slightest  care;  on  opening  the  hatch- 
es, the  health  officer  was  frequently  compelled  to  have  the  fire 
engine  pump  started,  that,  by  means  of  a  stream  of  water,  the 


294  THE    IRISH    IN   MEDICINE    AND    SURGERY 

deadly  atmosphere  between  decks,  like  tliat  of  a  coal  pit,  might 
be  sufficiently  purified  to  render  comparatively  safe,  the  under- 
taking of  moving  those  below.  In  the  foulest  stench  that  can 
be  conceived  of,  so  soon  as  the  eye  had  become  accustomed  to 
the  darkness  prevailing  everywhere,  under  the  open  hatch,  a 
mass  of  humanity,  men,  women  and  children,  would  be  seen 
lying  over  each  other,  the  greater  jDortion  stupefied,  or  in  a 
delirious  condition  from  typhus,  or  putrid  fever,  cholera,  and 
small  pox;  all  were  helplesSj^and  among  them  were  often  found 
bodies  of  the  dead  in  more  or  less  advanced  stages  of  decom- 
position." 

Dr.  Emmet  later  became  a  very  prominent  surgeon  in  New 
York,  and  devised  certain  operations  which  still  bear  his  name. 
He  probably  had  one  of  the  largest  hospital  and  private  prac- 
tices of  any  physician  that  ever  lived.  He  reckoned  that  he 
had  treated  about  one  hundred  thousand  women. 

Among  his  patients  were  the  parents  and  family  of  Theo- 
dore Eoosevelt.  Dr.  Emmet  says,  "One  of  the  youngsters,  a 
boy,  became  the  President  of  the  United  States,  and  he  has 
claimed  I  brought  him  into  the  world."  And  again,  ''He,  Theo- 
dore Eoosevelt,  was  a  very  delicate  child,  and  his  life  was  saved 
only  by  the  most  careful  watching.  He  is  indebted  to  me  for 
being  now  the  strong  and  healthy  man,  as  I  was  instrumental^ 
somewhat,  in  having  his  father  send  him,  as  a  growing  boy^ 
onto  a  ranch  out  west. ' '  • 

One  of  the  most  noted  surgeons  of  America  was  James 
Marion  Simms,  who  was  of  Irish  descent  on  his  mother's  side, 
English  on  his  father's  side.  It  was  said  of  him,  that  he  pos- 
sessed the  brain  of  an  Apollo,  the  heart  of  a  lion,  the  eye  of  an 
eagle,  and  the  hand  of  a  woman.  He  originated  certain  surgical 
operations  for  the  relief  of  suffering  woman,  and  he  became 
celebrated  not  alone  in  America,  but  in  Euro])e.  He  numbered 
among  his  patients,  some  of  the  most  aristocratic  people  in 
various  parts  of  Europe. 

Dr.  A.  J.  McCosh,  another  famous  surgeon,  was  born  in 
Ireland  in  1858.  He  became  one  of  the  leading  surgeons  in 
America,  and  was  noted  for  his  scientific  investigations.  Dr. 
McCosh  was  the  son  of  Rev.  James  McCosh,  who  at  one  time  was 
President  of  Princeton  College. 

Just  as  Dr.  Jackson  was  a  pioneer  in  the  Harvard  Medical 
School,  so  also  was  an  Irishman,  Dr.  Newell  Martin,  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  University. 

The  Johns  Hopkins  University  was  founded  in  1876.  The 
various  professors  were  chosen  for  their  excellence  in  their  re- 
spective callings,  and  such  wisdom  was  used  in  the  selection 


DR.  MICHAEL   F.   FALLON  295 

of  these  professors,  that  in  a  very  short  time,  the  University 
ranked  among  the  foremost  in  America. 

One  of  the  most  important  chairs  of  the  professorship  in 
the  University,  was  that  of  biology,  and  Dr.  Henry  Martin,  a 
young  Irishman,  was  selected  for  this.  Dr.  Martin  was  trained 
under  Huxley,  and  under  Michael  Foster,  the  famous  English 
physiologist,  and  Dr.  Martin,  during  his  seventeen  years'  pro- 
fessorship in  Johns  Hopkins  University,  was  perhaps  the  most 
13otent  factor  in  the  scientific  development  of  biology  and  physi- 
ology in  America.  His  teaching  had,  in  no  small  measure,  a  ben- 
eficial effect  upon  the  hygienic  department  of  our  government. 
Some  of  the  leading  professors  of  science  in  our  country  ac- 
knowledge their  debt  of  gratitude  to  this  Irishman,  among 
them.  Professor  Councilman  of  the  Harvard  Medical  School. 
Dr.  Martin's  kind  and  unselfish  life  made  him  beloved  by  all 
his  fellows.  A  memorial  tablet  has  been  erected  in  Johns  Hop- 
kins University  to  commemorate  "his  brilliant  work  as  inves- 
tigator, teacher  and  author,  by  which  he  advanced  knowledge, 
and  exerted  a  wide  and  enduring  influence."    He  died  in  1896. 

One  of  the  most  lovable  characters  in  the  history  of  Ameri- 
can medicine,  is  that  of  Dr.  Joseph  0  'Dwyer.  Dr.  0  'Dwyer  was 
of  Irish  descent,  and  was  born  in  1841,  in  Cleveland,  Ohio.  Dr. 
0 'Dwyer  led  a  blameless,  unselfish  life,  and  devoted  himself  to 
the  alleviation  of  suffering  in  children.  He  was  the  originator 
of  intubation,  a  method  of  placing  a  tube  in  the  larynx  when 
the  lar^Tix  was  blocked  up  by  false  membranes,  as  in  diphther- 
ia. This  tube  permitted  the  passage  of  air  to  the  lungs,  and 
saved  a  large  number  of  children  from  both  suffering  and 
death.  This  method  of  intubation,  devised  by  Dr.  0 'Dwyer, 
was  the  result  of  years  of  patient  investigation  and  hard 
work. 

The  study  of  the  lives  of  Irish  physicians  has  been  a  source 
of  great  pleasure  to  me — a  pleasure  tinged  with  sadness.  Since 
during  a  long  period  of  Ireland 's  history,  the  Irish  Catholic  was 
forbidden  to  prepare  himself  in  his  own  country  for  one  of  the 
noblest  of  professions — that  of  the  physician — a  calling  that 
pre-eminently  gives  opportunity  for  service.  xVnd  this  despite 
the  fact  that  no  people  were  better  fitted  mentally  and  physical- 
ly to  attain  eminence  than  were  the  Irish,  and  this  is  proved 
by  their  achievements  in  all  walks  of  life  in  our  own  country. 

Today,  for  exam]jle,  there  is  no  more  eminent  surgeon  in 
America,  than  Dr.  John  B.  Murphy,  of  Chicago,  of  whom  Sir 
Rickman  J,  Godlee,  President  of  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons 
of  England,  recently  said,  that  *'He  (Dr.  Murphy)  was  one  of 
the  most  original,  one  of  the  most  ingenious,  one  of  the  most 


296  THE    IRiISH    IN   MEDICINE    AND    SURGERY 

eloquent,  and  one  of  the  most  distinguished  surgeons  of  the 
present  day. ' ' 

And  coming  nearer  home,  there  is  no  more  eminent  surgeon 
in  all  New  England,  than  Dr.  John  T.  Bottomley,  of  Boston,  in 
whose  success  we  justly  take  pride,  since  he  is  a  product  of  our 
own  Holy  Cross  College. 

And  in  our  neighboring  state  of  Rhode  Island,  is  another 
distinguished  surgeon.  Dr.  John  W.  Keefe,  a  native  of  Worces- 
ter, the  recipient  of  the  highest  medical  honors  of  his  adopted 
state. 

In  the  making  of  medical  biographical  literature,  perhaps 
there  is  no  man  in  America  more  favorably  known  that  Dr. 
James  J.  Walsh.  Dr.  Walsh  is  distinguished  not  alone  in  his 
specialty  of  nervous  diseases,  but  he  has  labored  in  scientific 
fields  other  than  medicine,  and  has  rendered  valuable  service 
in  his  contributions  concerning  educational  systems  of  the  13tli 
and  14th  centuries. 

That  intellectual  and  physical  prowess  is  not  lacking  in 
the  Irish  youth,  was  recently  shown  when  a  Brickley,  a  Mahan, 
and  an  0  'Brien,  brought  victory  to  Harvard  over  her  old  rival, 
Yale,  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the  Cambridge  stadium. 

And,  just  as  these  young  Irishmen  led  on  to  victory  for 
their  companions,  so  did  their  exiled  ancestors  achieve  distinc- 
tion in  foreign  lands  in  medicine  and  in  surgery. 

And  let  us  hope  that  under  more  favorable  auspices  prom- 
ised the  Irish  people  under  the  new  regime,  that  Irish  Doctors 
may  profit  by  their  added  opportunities  to  advance  the  science 
of  medicine,  and  to  alleviate  suffering. 


John  F.  McGrath 


John  F.  McGrath  was  born  in  Worcester,  Mass., 
January  10,  1881,  son  of  the  late  Thomas  E.  McGratli, 
and  Elizabeth  T.  (O'Connor)  McGrath.  Both  parents 
jire  natives  of  Worcester.  His  grandparents  on  both 
the  paternal  and  maternal  side  were  born  in  Ireland. 

Mr.  McGrath  attended  the  grammar  schools,  and 
completed  his  studies  in  the  Worcester  Classical  High 
School  in  1898.  He  was  graduated  from  Holy  Cross 
College  with  the  degree  of  A.  B.  in  June,  1902,  an  honor 
man  and  a  commencement  speaker.  After  leaving 
Holy  Cross  Mr.  McGrath  chose  law  as  the  field  of  his 
special  activities.  He  was  admitted  to  the  Massachu- 
setts Bar  in  February,  1905,  but  continued  his  studies 
at  Boston  University  Law  School  in  order  to  graduate 
with  his  class  in  June,  1905.    He  has  since  practiced 

his  chosen  profession  in  Worcester. 

Mr.  McGrath  served  in  the  Massachusetts  Legis- 
lature in  1907  and  1908.  He  is  a  member  of  Division 
1,  A.  0.  H.,  of  Worcester.  Mr.  McGrath  was  married 
on  June  26,  1912,  to  Minnie  H.  Troy  of  Worcester. 


Jr^lanJn  a  Qlnntnbuttnn  to  lEngltfilj  ICtteratur^ 


-BY- 


JOHN  F.  McG-RATH 


There  is  a  fal^e  belief  in  the  minds  of  many  that  the  energies 
of  the  Irish  have  been  directed  along  rougher  and  less  ornate 
levels  than  the  plane  of  literary  effort.  This  belief  like  many 
others  entertained  of  our  ancestors,  is  absolutely  without  basis, 
and  is  usually  the  result  of  ignorance  or  prejudice.  Among 
those  who  have  quaffed  even  slightly  from  the  springs  of  the 
Muse,  the  Irish  have  had  at  least  some  recognition  of  their  po- 
sition in  literature.  The  quality  of  the  recognition  has  varied 
according  to  whether  the  critic  read  ''with  his  eyes  or  with  his 
prejudices."  Yet  how  impregnable  and  glorious  that  position 
is!  As  the  world  advances  in  learning  and  knowledge,  the 
mightiness  of  it  is  more  realized  and  appreciated. 

One  strong  element  there  is  that  lately  has  drawn  aside 
the  portals  of  the  past  and  shown  to  everlasting  view  what  an 
effective  force  the  Celt  has  been  in  the  building  of  this  world 's 
literature.  It  is  the  revival  of  interest  in  the  Gaelic  tongue. 
This  revival  has  awakened  an  interest  in  the  minds  of  tens  of 
thousands  of  students,  and  brought  in  a  panorama  before  them 
a  wealth  of  buried  treasure.  They  are  digging  deep  into  the 
mines  of  long  ago  and  are  drawing  forth  a  literary  ore,  useful 
for  ages  to  come.  To  those  who  have  unlocked  this  repository 
of  learning  to  the  enrichment  of  us  all,  we  offer  up  glad  paeans 
of  praise. 

Long  before  the  Romans  began  to  move  to  the  westward, 
and  cross  the  English  Channel  in  their  ambition  to  become  a 
mighty  empire,  the  Milesians  had  a  literature  of  their  own. 
When  the  Eomans  finally  did  come  they  conquered  the  inhab- 
itants of  what  are  now  England  and  Scotland.  Often  did  they 
look  with  eager  eyes  over  the  Irish  Sea  and  resolve  to  rule  over 
the  people  beyond,  but  this  resolve  they  never  carried  out. 
Thus  the  Irish  alone  escaped  the  influences  and  obliteration 
which  conquest  carried  with  it,  and  preserved  their  mental  in- 
dependence, their  language,  and  their  customs.    Not  only  did 


298        IRELAND'S   CONTRIBUTION  TO   ENGLISH   LITERATURE 

they  preserve  all  these  for  posterity,  but  in  preserving  them 
they  enabled  the  present  generation  to  gain  some  idea  of  the 
learning  and  customs  of  the  other  races  who  dwelt  near,  as  the 
Teutons  who  were  among  those  subjugated.  While  the  subju- 
gated races  were  constantly  warring  with  the  Romans,  the 
Irish  were  for  such  days  at  peace,  and  cultivated  the  arts  and 
the  sciences. 

For  four  centuries  from  the  fifth  to  the  ninth,  according  to 
a  German  historian,  the  civilization  of  Europe  was  centered  in 
Ireland.  She  was  its  university.  She  became  the  Mother  and 
the  fountain-head  of  literature,  aye,  more!  the  "Island  of  Saints 
and  Scholars."  Education  and  enlightenment  flourished  on  all 
sides.  Schools  abounded  everywhere.  They  were  really  more 
like  universities,  owing  to  the  extent  of  their  classical  courses. 
From  them  men  went  forth  forming  centers  of  teaching  every- 
where, developing  the  literary  instinct  of  culture  of  other  na- 
tions, and  infusing  into  their  poetical  forms  the  characteristics 
of  Gaelic  verse.  She  imparted  the  highest  culture  and  methods 
to  the  Norsemen,  the  Anglo-Saxons,  the  Germans,  the  French, 
and  the  Spaniards  in  varying  degrees.  Strangers  flocked  to 
Ireland  for  instruction  from  all  nations.  They  were  hailed  by 
a  hospitality  that  has  never  been  equalled. 

In  no  country  of  which  we  have  any  authentic  account  did 
the  bards  exist  in  such  numbers,  or  produce  so  much  and  so 
varied  verse,  as  among  them.  To  become  a  bard  it  was  neces- 
sary to  go  through  a  rigid  and  trying  course  of  training.  The 
ollamli,  who  was  the  highest  dignitary  among  them,  devoted 
from  nine  to  twelve  years  in  learning  two  hundred  and  fifty 
principal  stories  and  one  hundred  secondary  ones,  along  with 
a  multitude  of  other  matters  which  were  required. 

The  first  known  appearance  of  the  bards  was  in  500  B.  C, 
and  they  continued  down  to  Turlogh  O'Carolan,  who  died  in 
1737.  They  were  divided  into  three  classes,  the  Fileas,  the 
Brehons,  and  the  Senachies.  The  Fileas  were  poets  who  were 
in  constant  attendance  upon  the  chief  of  the  clan.  They  cele- 
brated his  valor  and  sung  his  personal  praises.  They  watched 
his  progress  in  battle  for  the  purpose  of  describing  his  skill. 
They  composed  odes  on  his  birthday.  They  aroused  the  patriot- 
ism and  loyalty  of  the  members  of  a  clan  by  war  songs.  They 
sang  lamentations  over  the  dead. 

The  Brehons  framed  the  laws  in  verse  and  recited  them. 
The  Senachies  preserved  the  family  pedigrees  in  a  poetic  form. 
They  kept  a  record  of  the  events  of  their  time.  They  com- 
posed legends.  They  were  the  wandering  story  tellers.  And 
welcome  indeed  to  the  peasant's  fireside  were  they  because  of 


JOHN  F.  McGRATH  299 

the  skill  and  humor  with  which  they  repeated  well  worn  fairy 
or  historic  legends. 

There  was  great  enthusiasm  among  them  for  the  bards, 
which  attests  the  natural  fondness  of  the  Irish  race  for  poetry. 
So  great  was  this  enthusiasm  and  so  fast  did  the  bards  increase 
in  number  that  in  the  sixth  century  they  constituted  one-third 
of  the  male  population.  Finally  a  public  assemblage  was  held 
and  a  law  passed  restricting  their  number. 

If  the  bards  were  not  the  originators  of  the  Irish  Fairy 
Tales  and  Folk  Lore,  which  are  among  the  oldest  of  those  of 
any  of  the  European  races,  they  at  least  preserved  them.  Hyde 
says  in  his  ''Beside  the  Fire,"  "Of  all  the  traces  that  man  in 
his  earliest  period  has  left  behind  him,  there  is  nothing  except* 
a  few  drilled  stones  or  flint  arrowheads  that  approaches  the 
antiquity  of  these  tales."  Story-telling  was  always  a  favorite 
amusement  with  the  Irish.  They  would  recite  old  tales  and 
describe  historical  events  in  prose  or  poetry  at  the  popular 
festivals.  Their  profession  was  regarded  as  a  lofty  and  re- 
spectable one.  They  would  often  gather  at  dusk  and  relate 
their  different  versions  of  the  same  tale.  A  vote  would  then  be 
taken  to  decide  which  one  had  the  best  version.  After  the  de- 
cision all  had  in  the  future  to  give  the  version  agreed  upon, 
which  they  did,  so  there  has  been  handed  down  to  posterity 
with  accuracy  tales  even  as  long  as  Deirdre,  which  some  story 
tellers  could  unfold  word  for  word. 

The  fairies  themselves  were  divided  into  two  great  classes, 
Sociable  and  Solitary  Fairies,  and  meant  what  the  words  im- 
ply. The  former  were  fairies  who  both  quarrelled  and  made 
love.    The  latter  were  generally  gloomy  and  lonely. 

The  principal  ones  among  the  latter  were  the  Pooka,  the 
Dullahan,  the  Far  Gorta,  and  the  Banshee.  The  Pooka  was  the 
fairy  of  the  nightmares.  He  usually  assumed  the  shape  of  a 
horse,  a  goat,  an  eagle  or  a  bull.  His  habit  was  to  snatch  a 
rider  from  his  horse  and  rush  him  over  the  ditches,  rivers  and 
mountains  until  the  break  of  dawn.  And  woe  be  to  him  who, 
filled  with  nectar  of  the  gods,  or  even  a  less  expensive  commod- 
ity, appeared  upon  the  highway  after  twilight! 

The  Dullahan  was  a  headless  fairy,  though  sometimes  he 
carried  this  usually  necessary'  appendage  under  his  arm.  He 
drove  a  black  coach  called  coach-a-bower,  which  was  drawn 
by  headless  horses.  The  coach  rumbled  along  the  road,  and 
were  it  to  stop  at  your  door  it  was  a  sign  of  death. 

The  Far  Gorta  was  a  man  of  hunger  who  travelled  over  the 
country  begging  for  food  and  bringing  luck  to  the  giver  of  it. 

The  Banshee  was  a  fairy  woman  who  was  originally  a  So- 


300         IRELAND'S   CONTRIBUTION   TO    ENGLISIH   LITERATURE 

ciable  Fairy,  but  who  was  weighted  down  with  sorrow  and  thus 
became  Solitary.  She  it  was  who  wept  upon  the  death  of  a  de- 
scendant of  an  old  Irish  family. 

The  fairy  tale  of  Finn  and  the  Phantoms  is  one  of  the  very 
earliest  stories  that  has  come  down  to  us,  for  it  is  found  in  the 
Book  of  Leinster.  It  survives  in  Ireland  to  the  present  time. 
In  it  Finn  with  Caeilte  and  Ossian,  become  separated  from 
their  companions  towards  night-fall  and  seek  shelter  in  a  house 
that  they  see  before  them  in  the  valley,  but  which  they  had 
never  noticed  before.  They  find  themselves  in  a  hut  filled  with 
the  most  horrid  sounds  of  screeching  and  wailing.  In  the  midst 
stands  a  churl  and  with  him  a  grim  old  hag  with  three  heads, 
•and  a  man  who  has  no"  head,  but  a  single  eye  in  the  middle  of 
his  breast.  The  churl  calls  on  some  unseen  beings  to  sing  a 
song  for  the  King  of  Warriors  of  the  Fianna,  upon  which  nine 
bodies  without  heads  rise  up  on  one  side  of  the  dark  cottage, 
and  nine  heads  without  bodies  rise  on  the  other  side,  and  to- 
gether they  raise  horrid  screeches  which  fill  the  three  men  with 
terror. 

^ '  Though  each  rough  strain  of  theirs  was  bad,  the  headless  bod- 
ies'  strain  was  worse; 

No  strain  of  all  so  ill  to  hear,  as  the  whistle  of  the  one-eyed 
man. 

The  song  they  sang  for  us  that  night  would  wake  the  dead  from 
out  the  clay. 

It  well-nigh  split  our  heads  in  twain,  that  chorus  was  not  mel- 
ody." 

The  Phantoms  then  attack  Finn  and  his  companions  and 
fight  them  all  night  long,  but  with  the  first  break  of  day  the 
whole  dismal  crew,  the  house  and  all  of  its  inhabitants,  van- 
ished into  thin  air,  leaving  the  three  Feniang  in  a  swoon  upon 
the  ground,  from  which,  however,  they  revived  in  course  of 
"time,  and  return  home  none  the  worse. 

Again,  according  to  Douglas  Hyde,  the  oldest  known  book 
now  in  existence  is  the  Tain  Bo  Chuailgne  or  Cattle  Eaid  of 
Cooley.  This  is  a  story  of  how  Ailell  and  Meve,  king  and  queen 
of  Connaught,  engaged  in  battle  and  drove  back  with  them  the 
magic  brown  bull  of  Ulster.  It  was  written  by  the  poet  Sen- 
chan.  The  Saltair  of  Tara  attributed  to  Cormac  MacArt  was 
published  in  the  third  century. 

But  the  most  beautiful  among  all  these  tales — so  beautiful 
that  it  ranks  with  the  few  great  stories  of  tradition — is  the 
story  of  "The  Fate  of  the  Sons  of  Usnach,"  better  known  as 


JOHN  F.  McGRATH  301 

Deirdre.  Just  after  the  birth  of  Deirdre,  Cathbad,  the  prophet^ 
took  her  into  his  arms  and  foretold  the  evil  that  would  fall  to 
men  because  of  her  loveliness.  Conor,  king  of  the  Ultonians^ 
was  present  and  ordered  her  to  be  reared  as  a  princess  that  he 
might  marry  her  when  she  became  of  age.  So  the  child  was 
given  to  Lavarcham,  her  foster-mother,  to  be  brought  up  in  a 
lonely  place,  among  the  hills,  where  the  eye  of  man  should 
never  gaze  upon  her  ill-fated  beauty.  Lavarcham  gave  the 
child  knowledge  and  skill  in  all  things  in  which  she  herself  was 
so  possessed.  There  was  not  a  ''blade  of  grass  growing  from 
root,  nor  a  bird  singing  in  the  wood,  nor  a  star  shining  from 
the  heaven, ' '  »but  Deirdre  knew  its  name  There  was  one  thing 
she  knew  not  of.  It  was  friendship  with  anyone  outside  of  her 
own  home.  One  day  she  eluded  the  watchfulness  of  her  tutor 
and  passed  unnoticed  through  the  iron  gate  in  the  high  wall 
that  surrounded  her  prison  palace.  Rambling  along  through 
the  forests,  she  came  upon  a  huntsman.  He  was  Naoise,  a  son 
of  Usnach.  When  he  beheld  the  splendor  of  the  girl's  counten- 
ance he  was  filled  with  a  flood  of  love.  For  her  beauty  was  be- 
yond every  degree  surpassing.  The  lass  requited  his  affection. 
Thereafter  they  met  quite  frequently.  One  night  Naoise  with 
his  two  brothers  aided  her  to  escape  to  the  nearest  harbor.  They 
went  aboard  ship  and  were  driven  by  the  wind  south  across 
the  waters  to  Alba,  for  they  feared  the  wrath  of  Conor,  the  king. 
Here  the  three  brothers  and  Deirdre  lived  for  a  long  time  hap- 
pily, and  rose  in  great  favor  and  power  with  Conor,  for  all  the 
while  they  concealed  the  beautiful  Deirdre,  and  Conor  had  not 
learned  how  or  with  whom  she  had  escaped.  His  discovery  of 
it  later  drove  the  three  sons  and  Deirdre  forth  again,  and  they 
lived  by  hunting  in  the  highlands  and  the  islands.  Conor  again 
learning  their  whereabouts,  sent  ambassadors  to  them  with  the 
olive  branch  of  peace  to  induce  them  to  return.  Deirdre  in  a 
dream  saw  them  coming  and  felt  that  there  was  danger,  but 
Naoise  yielded  to  their  assurances  of  safety  and  good-will,  and 
they  prepared  to  return  to  Erin.  Continually  she  warned  them, 
but  Naoise  smiled  at  her  fears,  but  heeded  her  not.  A  last  de- 
spairing attempt  was  made  by  her  as  they  came  in  sight  of  the 
royal  city;  she  told  them,  that  in  a  dream  of  the  night  before, 
she  perceived  that  if,  when  they  arrived,  they  were  admitted 
into  the  mansion  in  which  King  Conor  was  feasting  with  the 
nobles  of  Ulster  around  him,  they  were  safe,  but  if  on  any  pre- 
text they  were  quartered  by  the  King  in  the  House  of  the  Red 
Branch,  they  must  be  certain  of  treachery.  They  were  sent  to 
the  House  of  the  Red  Branch.  Then  for  the  first  time  did  they 
begin  to  believe  her  suspicions  were  well  founded.    That  night 


302         IRELAND'S   CONTRIBUTIOiN   TO   ENGLISH    LITERATURE 

Conor,  fired  with  drink  and  jealousy,  called  for  some  one  to  go 
and  bring  him  word  how  Deirdre  looked,  Lavarcham,  the 
nurse,  undertook  to  go.  But  she  disclosed  to  Naoise  and  Deirdre 
the  treachery  being  plotted  against  them,  and  returning  to 
Conor,  she  told  him  that  Deirdre  had  wholly  lost  her  beauty, 
whereat,  "much  of  his  jealousy  abated  and  he  continued  to  in- 
dulge in  feasting  and  enjoyment  a  long  while,"  until  he  thought 
of  Deirdre  again.  This  time  he  did  not  trust  Lavarcham  but 
sent  Miani,  first  recalling  to  his  mind  that  his  father  and  his 
three  brothers  had  been  slain  by  Naoise. 

In  the  meantime  the  entrances  and  windows  of  the  Red 
Branch  House  had  been  shut  and  barred  and  the  doors  barri- 
caded. One  small  window,  however,  had  been  left  open  at  the 
back  and  the  spy  climbed  upon  the  ladder  and  looked  through 
it  and  saw  Naoise  and  Deirdre  sitting  together  and  playing 
chess.  Deirdre  called  Naoise 's  attention  to  the  face  looking  at 
them,  and  Naoise,  who  was  lifting  a  chessman  off  the  board, 
hurled  it  at  the  head  and  broke  the  eye  that  looked  at  them. 
The  man  ran  back  and  told  the  King  that  it  was  worth  losing 
an  eye  to  have  beheld  a  woman  so  lovely. 

Then  Conor,  fired  with  fury  and  jealousy,  led  his  troops  to 
the  assault.  There  was  fighting  and  shouting  around  the  Red 
Branch  House,  and  Naoise 's  brothers,  helped  by  the  two  sons 
of  Fergus,  passed  the  night  in  driving  them  back,  and  in 
quenching  the  fires  that  broke  out  around  their  shelter.  At 
length  morning  began  to  dawn,  but  the  sons  of  Usnacli  were 
still  living  and  Deirdre  was  still  untaken. 

At  last  Conor's  druid,  Cathbad,  consented  to  work  a  spell 
and  charm  over  them  if  Conor  would  pledge  his  faithful  word 
that  having  once  taken  Deirdre  he  would  not  harm  the  sons  of 
Usnacli.  Conor  plighted  his  word,  and  the  charm  was  set  at 
work.  The  sons  of  Usnach  had  left  the  half  burned  house  and 
were  escaping  in  the  morning  light  with  Deidre  between  them, 
when  they  came  upon,  as  they  thought,  a  sea  of  thick,  foamy 
waves,  and  they  cast  down  their  weapons  and  spread  out  their 
arras  and  tried  to  swim,  and  Conor's  soldiers  came  and  cap- 
tured them  without  having  struck  a  blow.  They  were  brought 
before  the  King  and  he  caused  them  to  be  at  once  beheaded.  It 
was  then  that  the  druid  placed  a  curse  upon  the  land,  for  Conor 
had  broken  his  plighted  word.  That  curse  was  fulfilled  in  the 
misery  that  fell  upon  the  province  during  the  wars  with  Meve. 
He  cursed  also  the  house  of  Conor,  and  prophesied  that  none 
of  his  descendants  should  possess  that  land.  This  last  prophecy 
has  been  verified,  for  history  records  that  none  of  the  great 
families  who  followed  claimed  descent  from  Conor. 


JOHN  F.  McGRATH  303 

As  for  Deirdre,  she  was  at  once  distracted.  She  fell  upon 
the  ground  beside  her  husband.  She  tore  her  hair  and  rent 
her  disheveled  tresses.  The  lament  she  broke  forth  into  has 
long  been  a  favorite  with  Irish  scribes.  She  called  aloud  for 
Naoise,  and  then  fell  into  the  grave  where  the  three  sons  were 
Ijeing  buried,  and  died  upon  them.  Their  flag  was  raised  over 
their  tomb  and  their  names  were  there  inscribed,  and  their 
funeral  games  were  celebrated.  So  runs  the  tragedy  of  the  sons 
of  Usnach,  and  the  fateful  life  of  the  child  Deirdre. 

There  is  but  one  in  all  European  literature  with  which  this 
is  compared.  It  is  the  "Iliad"  of  Homer.  Nothing  else  cor- 
responds to  it.*  It  is  so  unique  in  its  flavor  and  in  its  spirit.  It 
is  so  delicate,  so  polite,  so  chivalrous.  Yet  it  is  mild  and  free 
and  even  savage,  representing  the  true  ideals  and  feelings  and 
conditions  of  those  days.  To  have  steeped  the  tale  with  the 
heautiful  romance  with  which  it  is  permeated  attests  that  the 
people  who  created  it  must  have  cherished  highly  romantic 
and  heroic  literature. 

What  are  the  characteristics  of  Irish  literature,  and  whence 
do  they  comef  Naturally  they  are  the  same  as  those  possessed 
by  the  people.  In  nearly  all  their  poems  there  is  a  loA^e  of  na- 
ture more  intimate  and  spiritual  than  can  be  found  among  the 
English  or  the  Scottish  works.  The  heart  of  the  Gael  has  shown 
a  great  love  for  outdoors.  It  has  not  alone  been  the  affection 
of  an  oppressed  and  t^Tannized  people,  but  an  indescribable 
love  for  Mother  Earth.  They  looked  upon  her  not  with  their 
eyes,  as  though  apart  from  her,  but  with  their  soul,  as  though 
they  were  a  part  of  her.  They  seemed  to  recognize  the  voices 
in  the  trees,  in  the  flowers,  in  the  blades  of  grass.  There  is  ev- 
idence of  this  in  Samuel  Ferguson's  ballad  of  "Aideen's 
Orave. ' ' 

' '  Here,  far  from  camp  and  chase  removed. 
Apart  in  nature's  quiet  room. 
The  music  that  alive  she  loved 
Shall  cheer  her  in  the  tomb. 

The  humming  of  the  noon-tide  bees, 
The  lark's  loud  carol  all  day  long. 
And  home  on  the  evening's  salted  breeze, 
The  clanking  sea-bird's  song. 

Shall  round  her  airy  chamber  float. 

And  with  the  whispering  winds  and  streams, 

Attune  to  Nature's  tenderest  note 

The  tenor  of  her  dreams. 


304  IRELAND'S  CONTRIBUTION  TO  ENGLISH  LITERATURE 

And  oft  at  tranquil  eve's  decline, 
When  full  tides  lip  the  Old  Green  Plain, 
The  lowing  of  Maynalty's  kine, 
Shall  round  her  breathe  again." 

The  same  note  or  strain  is  in  Charles  Weekee's  poem  called 
''Think." 

''Think,  the  ragged  turf  boy  urges 
O'er  the  dusty  road  his  asses; 
Think,  on  seashore  for  the  lonely 
Heron's  wings  along  the  sand. 

Think,  in  woodland  under  oak-boughs 
Now  the  streaming  sunbeam  passes; 
And  bethink  thee,  thou  are  servant 
To  the  same  all  moving  hand." 

Another  trait  is  that  of  friendship  and  companionship. 
In  no  place  were'  these  noble  institutions  so  highly  honored  or 
revered  as  in  Erin,  In  stories  dealing  with  either  romance  or 
heroes,  this  spirit  of  unity  created  great  interest  and  seasoned 
the  writings  with  a  rich  pathos.  Throughout  the  whole  story 
of  Deirdre,  the  unity  and  loyalty  of  the  three  sons  of  Usnacli 
are  emphasized.  No  other  race  except  the  ancient  Greeks  pos- 
sessed the  quality  to  such  a  degree,  but  the  Gaels  possessed  in 
addition  to  this  that  which  the  Greeks  lacked,  a  deep  chivalry 
and  respect  for  woman.  Among  them  woman  was  the  peer  of 
man  in  power,  in  friendship,  in  estate  and  in  position.  The  love 
that  was  borne  for  Deirdre  well  establishes  this. 

The  increasing  persecution  of  the  Irish  injected  a  note  of 
melancholy  and  sadness  in  their  writings.  Though  as  far  back 
as  the  fall  of  Finn  MacCool,  who  lived  in  the  fourth  century, 
and  who  was  an  early  bardic  poet  from  whom  the  name  Fenian 
comes,  there  followed  "The  Age  of  Lamentation."  After  his 
death  the  bards  spent  their  days  and  nights  lamenting  and 
wailing  for  him,  so  that  a  tone  of  sorrow  was  transmitted 
through  the  ages  to  become  fuller  and  deeper  as  the  mailed 
hand  of  tyranny  rained  blow  after  blow  upon  the  unprotected 
head  of  the  peasant.  Upon  his  death  his  son  Ossian  composed 
many  dirges  and  stirred  up  the  other  poets.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  but  that  these  dirges  which  were  spread  all  over  Ireland, 
influenced  the  character  and  sentiment  of  the  Gael.  The  tone- 
of  melancholy  then  sounded  became  linked  with  subsequent 


JOHN  F.  McGRATH  305 

disaster,  and  increased.  They  wrote  and  sung  of  the  weak  and 
of  the  poor,  of  hopes  and  of  ambitions,  of  purity,  of  piety,  of 
hospitality,  and  of  simpHcity,  (virtues  for  which  they  have 
been  distinguished).  They  sung  not  of  material  things,  be- 
cause of  these  were  they  robbed. 

Another  trait  is  their  imaginativeness.  The  reason  for  the 
great  power  of  imagination  with  which  they  are  so  remarkably 
endowed  is  found  in  the  fact  that  for  decades  they  have  fed 
upon  such  wondrous  stories  and  fairy  tales  as  given  to  no  other 
people.  The  fantastic  notions  and  ghostlike  conceptions  which 
these  fascinating  legends  and  myths  contained  made  almost 
everyone  who  lieard  them  in  time  imagine  that  he  saw  them, 
so  much  so,  that  the  native  Irish  walking  along  the  country 
roadside  at  night  with  their  minds  so  filled  with  the  memory  of 
the  latest  tales  they  heard,  could  hear  and  see  in  the  rustling 
of  the  wind  through  the  leaves,  or  the  call  of  the  lark  to  his 
mate,  or  the  moving  of  the  foliage  so  that  the  moon  shone 
through  for  an  instant  only  on  a  young  white  birch,  some  rest- 
less phantom  come  from  another  world. 

Many  Irish  scholars  there  are  whom  the  world  carelessly 
refers  to  as  Englishmen  or  Britishers.  Much  of  this  is  due  to 
bigotry  and  race-hatred.  The  prejudice  that  England  and 
Englishmen  had,  and  it  is  with  regret  it  is  said,  especially  Pro- 
testant Englishmen,  for  things  that  were  Irish,  led  them  to  deny 
them  all  credit  they  could.  They  robbed  Ireland  of  a  part  of 
her  literature  as  well  as  of  her  wealth.  It  was  quite  general 
that  where  anything  emerged  from  the  Irish  that  was  bad,  it 
was  both  emphasized  and  advertised  by  the  generous  English. 
When  the  good  came  forth  it  was  spoken  of  lightly  or  not  at 
all,  or  it  was  attributed  to  an  Englishman.  The  heavens  of 
England's  literature  are  studded  with  stars  that  belong  in 
the  blue  vault  of  Ireland.  They  have  been  placed  th^re  by  the 
defiling  and  profaning  hand  of  some  earthly  god  and  not  by 
the  sacred  finger  of  the  Divine  Scholar.  True,  there  were  many 
of  the  native  Irish  who,  deprived  of  an  opportunity  at  home  to 
acquire  even  a  small  education,  were  forced  to  link  their  for- 
tunes with  the  folk  of  England.  Some  of  them  in  time  lost 
many  of  their  Celtic  characteristics.  Among  these  was  Jona- 
than Swift,  who  was  born  in  Dublin.  He  has  been  extoled  as 
the  greatest  writer  of  satire  in  the  English  language.  All  of 
us  are  more  or  less  familiar  with  his  *' Gulliver's  Travels,"  so 
that  it  needs  no  description.  It  was  written  by  him  during  his 
tenure  as  Dean  at  St.  Patrick 's  in  Dublin.  His  other  best  known 
satires  are  the  "Tale  of  a  Tub,"  "The  Battle  of  the  Books," 
and  "A  Meditation  on  a  Broomstick."     His  style  is  English 


306         IRELAND'S   CONTRIBUTION   TO    ENGLI'SIH   LITERiATURE 

rather  than  Irish,     Yet  he  wrote  many  articles  in  defense  of 
his  native  country. 

Oliver  Goldsmith  is  another  who  drifted  to  England.  He 
was  born  in  County  Longford,  Ireland,  November  10,  1728. 
His  ''Vicar  of  Wakefield,"  "The  Deserted  Village,"  and  "She 
Stoops  to  Conquer, ' '  are  gems  in  the  literary  diadem  of  the  uni- 
verse that  from  their  first  appearance  to  our  day  have  glittered 
and  sparkled.  He  did  not  lose  all  his  Irish  characteristics,  for 
'tis  said  of  him  that  he  sought  neither  wealth  nor  advance- 
ment, that  "he  looked  on  all  things  with  a  sympathetic  eye,  an 
oj^en  heart,  an  innocent  delight  in  the  happiness  of  others,  a 
kindly  consideration  for  human  frailty  and  weakness,  and  a 
sigh  and  a  tear  for  man's  misfortune."  Truly,  the  most  un- 
generous critic  or  opponent  will  concede  these  qualities  to  be 
traits  of  his  native  land.  He  permeated  his  ' '  Deserted  Village ' ' 
A\^ith  them.  Bear  with  me  until  I  repeat  the  opening  lines  of 
ihat  great  work,  and  let  him  deny  who  can  that  they  were  not 
the  outpourings  of  an  Irishman's  soul. 

' '  Sweet  Auburn !  loveliest  village  of  the  plain, 

"Where  health  and  plenty  cheered  the  labouring  swain, 

Where  smiling  spring  its  earliest  visit  paid, 

And  parting  summer's  lingering  blooms  delayed: 

Dear  lovely  bowers  of  innocence  and  ease. 

Seats  of  my  youth,  when  every  sport  could  please, 

How  often  have  I  loitered  o'er  thy  green. 

Where  humble  happiness  endeared  each  scene! 

How  often  have  I  paused  on  every  charm, 

The  sheltered  cot,  the  cultivated  farm, 

The  never-failing  brook,  the  busy  mill. 

The  decent  church  that  topt  the  neighbouring  hill. 

The  hawthorn  bush,  with  seats  beneath  the  shade. 

For  talking  age  and  whispering  lovers  made! 

How  often  have  I  blest  the  coming  day, 

When  toil  remitting  lent  its  turn  to  play, 

And  all  the  village  train,  from  labour  free. 

Led  up  their  sports  beneath  the  spreading  tree, 

While  many  a  pastime  circled  in  the  shade. 

The  young  contending  as  the  old  surveyed; 

And  many  a  gambol  frolicked  o'er  the  ground. 

And  sleights  of  art  and  feats  of  strength  went  round. 

And  still  as  each  repeated  pleasure  tired. 

Succeeding  sports  the  mirthful  band  inspired; 

The  dancing  pair  that  simply  sought  renown 

By  holding  out  to  tire  each  other  down; 


JOHN  F.  McGRATH  307 

The  swain  mistrnstless  of  his  smutted  face, 
While  secret  laughter  tittered  round  the  place; 
The  bashful  virgin's  sidelong  looks  of  love, 
The  matron's  glance  that  would  those  looks  reprove. 
These  were  thy  charms,  sweet  village!  sports  like  these, 
With  sweet  succession,  taught  even  toil  to  please; 
These  round  thy  bowers  their  cheerful  influence  shed, 
These  were  thy  charms — but  all  these  charms  are  fled. ' ' 

And  later  in  the  same  inspiration  we  find  the  gentle  tribute 
he  pays  to  his  old  schoolmaster,  Paddy  Byrne: 

^' While  words  of  learned  length  and  thundering  sound 
Amazed  the  gazing  rustics  ranged  around. 
And  still  they  gazed  and  still  the  wonder  grew, 
That  one  small  head  could  carry  all  he  knew. ' ' 

Richard  Brinsley  Sheridan  was  another  who  sought  the 
London  atmosphere.  He  was  born  in  Dublin  inl751.  He  is  un- 
doubtedly the  greatest  dramatic  wit  of  all  ages.  He  was  of  the 
same  type  of  English  comedy  dramatists  as  Wycherly,  Con- 
greve,  and  Farquahar,  the  latter  being  of  Irish  birth.  When 
but  twenty-four  years  of  age  Sheridan  wrote  "The  Rivals,"  At 
twenty-five  he  conceived  his  masterpiece,  ''The  School  for 
Scandal."  Here  was  the  triumph  of  wit.  At  twenty-eight  he 
produced  "The  Critic"  in  the  Drury  Lane  Theatre  in  London, 
which  he  had  purchased.  These  were  his  three  greatest  come- 
dies. They  teem  from  beginning  to  end  with  a  sparkling  wit 
and  humor  which  drive  away  from  the  playgoer  all  lingering 
traces  of  trouble  or  anxiety.  England  can  scan  the  scroll  of  the 
ages  now  closed.  She  can  delve  into  the  archives  of  Westmin- 
ster. She  can  call  back  from  across  the  Great  Divide  all  her 
litterateurs,  and  marshal  them  in  gallant  array  before  the  Tri- 
bunal of  Scholars,  but  she  will  find  no  light  glittering  so  bright- 
ly as  The  Prince  of  Humorists,  Richard  Brinsley  Sheridan. 
"He  hath  no  fellow  in  the  firmament."  Already  his  comedies 
have  had  a  long  life,  and  though  the  old  standards  of  taste  and 
the  rules  of  dialogue  have  changed,  these  plays  are  being  as 
warmly  greeted  in  this  twentieth  century  as  they  ever  were 
during  the  nineteenth. 

Not  all,  however,  in  the  recent  centuries,  drifted  to  Lon- 
don, absorbed  its  spirit  and  fused  it  with  their  native  feelings, 
traits,  and  aspirations.  Many  there  were  who  remained  on  the 
^'old  sod"  and  breathed  in  every  word  of  their  writings  the 
pure  and  unalloyed  spirit    of    the    Gael.     There  were  Samuel 


308        IRELAND'S   CONTRIBUTION   TO   ENGLISH   LITERATURE 

Lover,  James  Clarence  Mangan,  Charles  Lever,  Sir  Samuel  Fer- 
guson, Aubrey  De  Vere  and  William  Allingham.  This  sextet 
labored  in  the  vineyard  of  letters  during  the  daybreak  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  one  of  Ireland's  golden  ages. 

Lover  first  burst  into  great  favor  with  his  ''Rory  0'- 
Moore."  He  later  dramatized  it  and  as  a  test  of  its  merit  it 
has  survived  in  actual  production  even  up  to  our  time.  It  had 
an  original  run  of  one  hundred  and  eight  nights.  This  may  not 
strike  the  popular  fancy  of  today  as  a  very  formidable  record, 
but  we  must  not  be  unmindful  that  this  was  almost  a  century 
ago  and  that  the  scale  of  doing  things  was  not  as  great  then  as 
now.  From  his  pen  came  in  1842  * '  Handy  Andy, ' '  a  rollicking 
story  of  Irish  life.  He  also  wrote  ' '  The  Legends  and  Stories  of 
Ireland,"  which  he  illustrated  with  his  own  etchings. 

Mangan,  who  preceded  Edgar  Allen  Poe  but  a  few  years, 
has  been  frequently  compared  to  him.  Their  life  and  genius 
were  alike.  Both  were  gifted  though  hapless  poets.  Mangan 's 
poem,  ''The  Nameless  One,"  and  Poe's  "Eaven"  were  crea- 
ations  of  similar  souls.  A  spirit  of  sombreness  pervades  them 
both,  and  comes  from  their  weird  way  of  living.  Dissappoint- 
ment  in  love  changed  the  whole  current  of  Mangan 's  life.  He 
had  become  a  visitor  in  the  domestic  circle  of  a  family  above 
his  station,  in  which  there  were  three  beautiful  sisters.  By  one 
of  them  he  was  encouraged  and  flattered.  But  he  was  suddenly 
disillusioned  and  thrown  off.  The  shock  drove  him  to  dissi- 
pation. In  three  years  he  emerged  from  it  a  man  broken  in 
health,  with  hope  abandoned  and  old  before  his  day.  His  de- 
spondency and  abstraction  naturally  influenced  his  poetry  and 
made  it  plaintive.  Of  ''The  Nameless  One"  it  is  averred  that 
there  is  scarcely  anything  in  the  entire  range  of  English  liter- 
ature so  profoundly  affecting.    It  is  the  confession  of  his  life. 

"Roll  forth,  my  song,  like  the  rushing  river, 
That  sweeps  along  to  the  mighty  sea; 
God  will  inspire  me  while  I  deliver 
My  soul  of  thee ! 

Tell  thou  the  world,  when  my  bones  lie  whitening. 
Amid  the  last  homes  of  youth  and  eld, 
That  there  was  once  one  whose  veins  ran  lightning 
No  eyes  beheld. 

Tell  how  his  boyhood  was  one  drear  night-hour, 
How  shone  for  him,  through  his  griefs  and  gloom, 
No  star  of  all  Heaven  sends  to  light  our 
Path  to  the  tomb. 


JOHN  F.  McORATH  309 

Eoll  on,  my  song,  and  to  after  ages 

Tell  how,  disdaining  all  earth  can  give. 

He  would  have  taught  men  from  wisdom's  pages 

The  way  to  live. 

And  tell  how,  trampled,  derided,  hated, 
And  worn  by  weakness,  disease,  and  wrong, 
He  fled  for  shelter  to  God,  who  mated 
His  soul  with  song; — 

With  song,  which  alway,  sublime  or  vapid, 
Flowed  like  arill  in  the  morning  beam, 
Perchance  not  deep,  but  intense  and  rapid,— 
A  mountain  stream. 

Tell  how  this  Nameless,  condemned  for  years  long 
To  herd  with  demons  from  hell  beneath, 
Saw  things  that  made  him,  with  groans  and  tears,  long 
For  even  death. 

Go  on  to  tell  how,  with  genius  wasted. 
Betrayed  in  friendship,  befooled  in  love, 
With  spirit  shipwrecked,  and  young  hopes  blasted, 
He  still,  still  strove, — 

Till  spent  with  toil,  dreeing  death  for  others, 

And  some  whose  hands  should  have  wrought  for  him, 

(If  children  live  not  for  sires  and  mothers), 

His  mind  grew  dim, — 

And  he  fell  far  through  that  pit  abysmal, 
The  gulf  and  grave  of  Maginn  and  Burns, 
And  pawned  his  soul  for  the  devil's  dismal 
Stock  of  returns; — 

But  yet  redeemed  it  in  days  of  darkness. 
And  shapes  and  signs  of  the  final  wrath, 
When  death  in  hideous  and  ghastly  starkness 
Stood  on  his  path. 

And  tell  now  how,  amid  wreck,  and  sorrow, 
And  want,  and  sickness,  and  houseless  nights, 
He  bides  in  calmness  the  silent  morrow 
That  no  ray  lights. 

And  lives  he  still,  then?    Yes!  Old  and  hoary 
At  thirty-nine  from  despair  and  woe. 
He  lives,  enduring  what  future  story 
Will  never  know." 


310         IRELAND'S    CONTRIBUTION   TO   ENGLISH   LITERATURE 

This  poem  is  more  remarkable  because  it  has  not  bitter- 
ness, no  indictment  of  fickle  fortune  which  are  to  be  found  in 
the  poetry  of  other  geniuses  whose  lives  have  been  similarly 
wrecked. 

Charles  Lever  was  the  novelist  who  wrote  ''Con  Cregan," 
"Harry  Lorequer, "  "Charles  O'Malley, "  and  numerous  other 
books  containing  brilliant  pictures  of  Irish  life.  He  was  a 
sketcher  of  one  of  the  many  interesting  phases  of  Irish  life 
which  was  then  passing,  so  that  he  will  probably  be  endeared 
for  many  ages  to  come. 

Ferguson,  a  most  accomplished  scholar  in  ancient  Irish 
literature,  was  one  of  the  great  national  poets  of  Ireland.  His 
best  poems  were  ' '  The  Forging  of  the  Anchor, ' '  and  ' '  Congal. ' ' 
The  latter  is  conspicuous  for  its  musical  sweetness  and  its  for- 
tunate choice  of  descriptive  adjectives. 

The  poems  of  Aubrey  DeVere  contain  perhaps  the  highest 
type  of  Catholic  spirit.  A  vein  of  deep  spirituality  courses 
through  all  of  them.  According  to  Alfred  M.  Williams,  an  em- 
inent literary  critic,  DeVere  deserves  a  higher  critical  estimate 
than  he  has  received  from  English  critics,  and  ' '  that  some  day 
he  will  be  considered  worthy  of  a  place  beside  Shelley  and  Lan- 
dor,  and  acknowledged  as  a  rare  type  of  modern  poetical  gen- 
ius." 

The  poetry  of  William  Allingham  pictures  the  beautiful 
scenery  of  Ireland,  particularly  of  the  vicinity  of  Ballyshan- 
non,  where  he  was  born.  It  tells  of  the  romance  and  the  sor- 
rows of  the  Irish  peasants.  It  draws  sketches  of  Irish  charac- 
ter from  all  grades  and  classes.  There  had  been  no  author  of 
English  except  one  "who  is  so  vividly  a  painter  of  real  life  as 
Mr.  Allingham."  His  aim  was  to  give  a  faithful  portrayal  of 
existing  society  and  circumstances,  "and  the  clearest  insight 
and  most  vivid  representation  of  contemporary  life  in  Ireland." 
"Lovely  Mary  Donnelly,"  which  was  his  inspiration,  is  said  to 
be  one  of  the  most  perfect  specimens  of  Irish  poetry.  Let  me 
read  but  the  first  two  verses  and  the  last  of  the  tender 
creation. 

"0,  Lovely  Mary  Donnelly,  it's  you  I  love  the  best; 

If  fifty  girls  were  round  you,  I'd  hardly  see  the  rest. 

Be  what  it  may  the  time  of  day,  the  place  be  where  it  will, 

Sweet  looks  of  Mary  Donnelly,  they  bloom  before  me  still. 

Her  eyes  like  mountain  water  that's  flowing  on  a  rock, 

How  clear  they  are,  how  dark  they  are !  and  they  give  me  many 

a  shock. 
Eed  rowans  warm  in  sunshine  and  wetted  with  a  shower 


JOHN  F.  McGRATH  311 


Could  ne'er  express  the  charming  lip  that  has  me  in  its  power. 


0,  Lovely  Mary  Donnelly,  your  beauty 's  my  distress ! 
It's  far  too  beauteous  to  be  mine,  but  I'll  never  wish  it  less; 
The  proudest  place  would  fit  your  face,  and  I  am  poor  and  low; 
But  blessings  be  about  you,  dear,  wherever  you  may  go!" 

It  cannot  be  gainsaid  that  no  race  produces  more  elo- 
quence, and  few  races  producQ  as  much  as  the  Irish.  Perhaps 
the  constant  political  struggle  for  independence  when  the  only 
weapon  left  to  plead  its  cause  was  logic  and  the  appeal  to  the 
world  to  the  equity  of  its  demand  and  the  iniquity  of  its  civil 
oppression,  may  have  keened  and  sharpened  the  edge  of  elo- 
quence. Whatever  the  cause  or  influence  there  has  ever  been 
an  abundant  supply  of  general  orators  whose  fervid,  convinc- 
ing, and  impassioned  utterances  have  lifted  minds  to  higher 
planes  and  stirred  souls  to  greater  efforts.  Their  rugged  phy- 
sique, their  jovial  manner,  their  cordiality  and  felicity  of  ex- 
pression, their  tender  sympathy  toward  the  unfortunate,  their 
ready  wit,  their  tenacious  memory  of  facts  and  figures,  and 
their  powerful  imaginations  springing  from  their  superstitious 
beliefs  in  fairies  and  their  like,  raised  them  to  an  eminence 
apart  from  other  people.  Burke,  O'Connell,  Curran,  Emmet, 
Grattan  and  Parnell  are  a  group  brilliant  enough,  even  though 
there  were  no  others,  to  shed  lustre  on  the  name  of  the  Gael, 
enduring  to  the  Day  of  Judgment.  The  recollection  of  their 
silvery  tongues  and  sapient  logic  like  the  sweet  but  melancholy 
tones  of  Erin's  harp,  will  ever  linger  in  our  memory. 

To  the  world  at  large,  Edmund  Burke  is  the  best  known. 
Like  those  of  Demosthenes  and  Cicero,  the  currents  of  his  elo- 
quence have  come  rolling  down  to  us  through  the  ages.  Of  his 
many  efforts,  the  greatest  are  his  two  addresses  touching  the 
American  Revolution.  In  1774  he  delivered  a  famous  speech 
on  American  Taxation,  which  was  followed  in  1775  by  his  plea 
for  Conciliation  with  the  Colonies.  In  both  he  advocated  a 
wise  and  liberal  policy  toward  our  American  forefathers.  There 
is  scarcely  an  American  school  boy  whose  mind  has  not  at  some 
time  been  directed  to  their  study.  It  was  the  warm  heart  of  the 
Irishman  that  was  speaking,  appealing  for  the  tyrannized  and 
overtaxed.  Had  his  counsel  been  adopted  all  the  mischief  that 
ensued  might  have  been  averted.  (However,  nestled  here  now 
in  our  cradle  of  liberty,  while  we  venerate  the  wisdom  and  mag- 
nanimity of  his  position,  we  are  amazingly  grateful  to  George 
III  for  lack  of  foresight).    In  1788  he  opened  the  trial  of  Hast- 


312         IRELAND'S   CONTRIBUTION   TO    EN<}LISH   LITERATURE 

ings  accused  of  misgovernment  in  India,  with  a  widely  cele- 
brated speech  that  lasted  four  days.  England  possessed  no  or- 
ator or  political  thinker  superior  to  him.  He  was  likewise  a 
man  of  great  literary  attainments.  Dr.  Johnson  said  of  him, 
' '  Take  up  whatever  topic  you  please,  he  is  ready  to  meet  you. ' ' 
His  learning  and  imagination  won  for  him  the  friendship  of  the 
leading  men  of  England.  He  possessed  a  passionate  ardor,  a 
poetic  fancy,  a  resourcefulness,  an  irony,  a  pathos,  a  denuncia- 
tion, and  a  tenderness  that  astounded  Parliament. 

On  the  French  Eevolution  he  took  a  position  contrary  to 
his  colleagues.  After  the  Fall  of  the  Bastile,  he  exclaimed: 
"The  French  have  shown  themselves  the  ablest  architects  of 
ruin  who  have  hitherto  existed  in  this  world.  In  a  short  sj^ace 
of  time,  they  have  pulled  to  the  ground,  their  armj^,  their  navy, 
their  commerce,  their  arts,  and  their  manufactures!"  History 
proved  him  to  be  correct. 

The  renowned  historian,  Taine,  says  of  him:  ''He  brought 
into  politics  a  horror  of  crime,  a  vivacity  and  sincerity  only 
suitable  to  a  young  man.  He  fought  against  the  crimes  of  pow- 
er in  England,  the  crimes  of  the  people  in  France,  the  crimes  of 
the  monopolists  in  India.  He  made  himself  everywhere  the 
champion  of  principle  and  the  persecutor  of  vice,  and  men  saw 
him  bring  to  the  attack  all  the  forces  of  his  wonderful  knowl- 
edge, his  lofty  reason,  his  splendid  style,  with  the  unwearying 
and  untempered  ardor  of  a  moralist  and  a  knight." 

To  illustrate  briefly  his  power  of  diction,  let  me  read  part 
of  his  reply  to  the  Duke  of  Bedford  when  the  latter  criticized 
him  for  accepting  a  pension  from  the  throne. 

' '  The  grants  to  the  house  of  Eussell  were  so  enormous,  as 
not  only  to  outrage  economy,  but  even  to  stagger  belief.  The 
Duke  of  Bedford  is  the  giant  among  all  the  creatures  of  the 
crown.  He  tumbles  about  his  unwieldly  bulk;  he  plays  and 
frolics  in  the  ocean  of  the  royal  bounty.  Huge  as  he  is,  and 
whilst  'he  lies  floating'  he  is  still  a  creature.  His  ribs,  his  fins, 
his  whalebone,  his  blubber,  the  very  spiracles  through  which 
he  spouts  a  torrent  of  brine  against  his  origin,  and  covers  me 
all  over  with  the  spray — everything  of  him  and  about  him  is 
from  the  throne. ' ' 

He  wrote  many  beautiful  and  learned  essays.  His  essay 
on  "The  Origin  of  Our  Ideas  of  the  Sublime  and  the  Beautiful" 
has  won  for  him  admiration  in  Grermany  and  France  as  well  as 
in  all  English  speaking  countries. 

After  Burke  comes  Daniel  O'Connell  as  a  world  figure, 
though  as  an  Irishman,  he  far  surpasses  the  former.  For  Burke 
engaged  in  the  wider  affairs  of  the  British  Empire,  while  the 


JOHN  F.  McGRATH  313 

Great  Liberator  waged  chiefly  the  cause  of  liberty  for  Ireland. 
He  was  called  to  the  Irish  Bar  in  1798  at  a  time  when  the  rebel- 
lion was  at  its  highest  pitch.  He  became  famous  as  a  lawyer 
and  was  unrivalled  as  a  cross-examiner.  On  May  15,  1829,  he 
came  to  take  his  seat  in  Parliament  and  was  heard  at  the  bar 
on  his  right  to  be  exempt  from  taking  certain  oaths  of  allegi- 
ance detestable  to  all  Catholics.  But  the  House  of  Commons 
refused  to  release  him  from  the  obligation.  On  April  22,  1834, 
he  spoke  for  seven  hours  in  a  memorable  plea  for  a  committee 
to  be  appointed  to  investigate  the  outrageous  injustice  of  the 
Act  of  Union.  On  August  15,  1843,  he  addressed  on  the  Hill  of 
Tara  on  the  Repeal  and  Catholic  Emancipation,  an  audience 
estimated  to  c^ontain  three  quarters  of  a  million  people.  He 
found  the  hopes  of  the  Catholic  people  at  a  low  ebb.  Many  of 
their  rights  were  regained  by  his  courage  and  intellect.  It 
seems  that  nature  built  him  for  the  part  he  played  in  Irish  af- 
fairs. He  was  almost  six  feet  tall,  of  enormous  strength,  and 
inexhaustible  energy.  He  had  a  wonderful  command  of  lan- 
guage, and  a  mighty  and  powerful  voice  that  rose  high  above 
the  uproar  of  any  throng.  And  in  those  quite  sorrowful  days, 
the  din  and  clatter  of  bigotry  and  oppression  were  tumultuous 
enough  to  drown  the  most  giant  tones.  His  patience  and  self- 
possession  were  admirable.  These  qualities  with  his  wonderful 
eloquence  which  could  be  cutting  or  flattering,  and  with  his 
genuine  humor,  enabled  him  to  control  the  wildest  emotions  of 
his  hearers  or  subdue  into  respectful  silence  the  noisiest  of  his 
political  opponents.  It  was  this  Great  Liberator  who  revived 
and  rekindled  that  spirit  of  hope  which  tonight  is  burning 
brighter  in  our  souls  than  at  any  moment  during  our  journey 
here,  that  spirit  of  hope  so  soon  to  manifest  itself  in  the  actual 
realization  of  a  government  of  Ireland,  by  Ireland,  for  Ireland 
and  in  Ireland. 

The  personality  of  John  Philpot  Curran  was  a  unique  Irish 
contribution  to  literature.  He  was  small  of  stature,  with  an 
unhandsome  though  strong  face,  out  of  which  peered  bright, 
flashing  black  eyes.  He  had  a  charming  manner,  a  limitless 
supply  of  wit,  and  ready  answers.  He  is  most  famous  for  his 
defense  of  the  leaders  of  the  insurrection  of  1798,  and  in  May 
of  1800  he  represented  James  Napper  Tander,  whom  ''The 
Wearing  of  the  Green"  has  immortalized. 

If  there  is  skepticism  in  the  minds  of  anyone,  what  convinc- 
ing proof  that  the  Gael  has  a  natural  inclination  to  eloquence 
there  is  in  those  thrilling  utterances  of  Robert  Emmet.  He  was 
a  mere  boy  at  the  time,  just  turned  twenty-five,  when  declared 
guilty  of  high  treason,  he  was  asked  why  sentence  of  death 


314        IRELAiND'S    CONTRIBUTION   TO    ENGLISH   LITERATURE 

should  not  be  pronounced  upon  him.    From  the  prison  dock  he 
gave  to  the  world  a  classic.    Hear  his  closing  words: 

''My  lamp  of  life  is  nearly  extinguished.  My  race  is  run. 
The  grave  opens  to  receive  me — and  I  sink  into  its  bosom!  I 
have  but  one  request  to  ask,  at  my  departure  from  this  world; 
• — it  is  the  charity  of  its  silence.  Let  no  man  write  my  epitaph ; 
for,  as  no  man  who  knows  my  motives  dare  now  vindicate  them, 
let  not  prejudice  nor  ignorance  asperse  them.  Let  them  and 
me  repose  in  obscurity  and  peace,  and  my  tomb  remain  unin- 
scribed,  until  other  times  and  other  men  can  do  justice  to  my 
character.  When  my  country  takes  her  place  among  the  na- 
tions of  the  earth, — then,  and  not  till  then, — let  my  epitaph  be 
written!    I  have  done." 

Henry  Grattan  as  an  orator  is  of  the  first  magnitude.  His 
eulogy  on  the  Earl  of  Chatham  and  his  invective  against  Na- 
poleon are  among  the  greatest  ever  delivered. 

In  the  field  of  journalism  three  figures  that  loom  above 
their  fellows  were  Cardinal  Wiseman,  Patrick  Ford  and  T.  P. 
O  'Connor.  The  Cardinal,  in  addition  to  his  profound  and  schol- 
arly essays  on  the  Church  and  its  Doctrines,  founded  and  edited 
the  Dublin  Keview.  It  was  the  vigorous  personality  of  Ford 
that  created  the  Irish  World  and  made  it  an  effective  force  on 
this  continent,  for  to  him  more  than  to  any  other  is  credited 
the  keeping  alive  in  the  States  of  the  spirit  of  Home  Rule. 
O'Connor,  who  is  the  founder  and  editor  of  numerous  publica- 
tions, is  one  of  the  greatest  living  journalists.  In  the  record- 
ing and  analyzing  of  events  Douglas  Hyde,  Justin  McCarthy, 
and  his  son,  Justin  Huntley  McCarthy,  are  a  trinity  of  histori- 
ans that  are  fairly  to  be  compared  with  an  equal  number  from 
any  nation. 

In  wit  and  humor  the  Celt  has  no  equal.  For  these  he  has 
a  national  reputation.  To  say  clever  and  amusing  things  with- 
out effort  or  premeditation  seems  part  of  an  Irishman's  make- 
up, whatever  his  rank  or  class.  He  sees  a  humorous  side  to 
everything.  The  driest  situation  can  be  made  by  him  a  peg 
for  a  joke.  His  wit  is  sympathetic  as  a  rule,  though  it  can  con- 
tain a  sting.  But  it  is  not  usually  sarcastic  like  the  English- 
man's, nor  ponderous  like  his,  either.  The  Celt  will  inject  in 
his  utterances  a  lot  of  roguish  flattery.  He  will  often  say  pret- 
ty things  to  one  at  his  own  expense.  Note  the  genuine  modesty 
in  Curran's  reply  to  a  friend  who  met  him  while  strolling  in 
one  of  the  London  parks.  "Why,"  asked  the  friend,  "do  you 
go  about  with  your  mouth  open?"  "Oh,"  answered  Curran, 
"I  am  trying  to  catch  the  English  accent."  Blarney  is  an 
Irishman's  exclusive  property.    It  is  in  constant  bloom  about 


JOHN  F.  McGRATH  515 

him.    Note  it  again  in  the  pretty  compliment  paid  to  the  vil- 
lage beauty: 

' '  Who  stepped  with  such  infinite  grace, 
That  even  the  daisies  she  trod  on, 
Looked  up  with  delight  in  her  face. ' ' 

Note  yet  once  more  the  roguish  flattery  that  Samuel  Lover 
bestows  on  Molly  Carew,  in  his  poem  by  the  same  name.  Molly 
wears  such  a  big  bonnet  to  church  that  one  of  the  boys  sitting 
near  her  is  anxious  to  get  a  peep  at  her  ''purty"  face.  His 
mind  is  not  on  the  Mass  but  on  Molly.  He  can't  even  remember 
his  prayers.  .Despairingly  he  reaches  over  and  whispers  warn- 
ingly  into  her  ear: 

"Take  off  that  bonnet. 

Or  else  I'll  lave  on  it, 

The  loss  of  my  wandering  soul. ' ' 

In  lyric  poetry — poetry  that  is  adapted  to  music — the  po- 
sition of  the  Irish  is  most  enviable.  They  rank  with  the  Scotch, 
and  the  French,  and  far  surpass  the  English.  Ireland  has  ly- 
rics by  the  thousands.  ''Many  of  them,"  according  to  Barry, 
''written  probably  under  great  political  excitement  bear,  too 
sadly,  evidence  of  the  angry  passions  which  dictated  them,  un- 
relieved by  beauty  of  thought  or  strength  of  compositions.'^ 
Naturally  oppression  would  have  an  effect  upon  the  lyric  genius 
of  Ireland.  Yet  she  ranks  high.  Her  greatest  lyrists  were 
Banin,  Lover,  Griffin,  Father  Prout,  Eoscommon,  Maginn,  Cur- 
ran,  Drennan,  Laxly  Morgan  and  Thomas  Moore.  England  has 
no  children  to  compare  with  these,  save  Keats  and  Shelley.  Her 
navy  is  her  greatest  glory.  Yet  she  has  few  naval  songs.  The 
best  one  she  has  is  "The  Arethusa,"  written  by  an  Irishman, 
named  Hoare.  "Rule  Britania"  is  a  Scotch  song,  and  "God 
Save  the  King"  is  taken  from  another  Scotch  song.  Moore,  if 
Ireland  had  no  other,  is  lyrist  enough  for  her.  He  ranks  with 
Burns  of  Scotland,  Beranger  of  France,  and  Keats  of  England. 
In  his  expression  of  the  softer  feelings  he  is  perfect,  and  he  is 
unrivalled  even  hy  Burns  in  many  of  his  gay  songs.  Find  for 
me  the  repertoire  of  a  single  individual  containing  more  love 
and  pathos,  more  liveliness  and  more  quietness,  than  in  "Dear 
Harp  of  Mv  Countrv,"  "The  Minstrel  Bov,"  "  'Tis  the  Last 
Rose  of  Summer,"  "The  Meeting  of  the  Waters,"  "The  Harp 
That  Once  Through  Tara's  Hall,"  and  "Believe  Me  If  All  Those 
Endearing  Young  Charms."  They  have  lived  a  century,  and 
like  wine,  improved  with  age. 


316         IRELAND'S    CONTRIBUTION   TO    ENGLISH   LITERATURE 

In  Samuel  Lover's  Molly  Bawn,  there  is  the  blarney  and 
the  coy,  entrancing,  and  irresistible  appeal  to  a  colleen's  heart. 

^'Oh!  Molly  Bawn,  why  leave  me  pining. 

All  lonely  waiting  here  for  you. 
While  the  stars  above  are  brightly  shining, 

Because  they've  nothing  else  to  do; 

The  flowers  late  were  open  keeping, 

To  try  a  rival  blush  with  you, 
But  their  Mother,  Nature,  set  them  sleeping. 

With  their  rosy  faces  washed  with  dew. 

Oh !  Molly  Bawn,  why  leave  me  pining. 

All  lonely  waiting  here  for  you, 
The  stars  above  are  brightly  shining, 

Because  they've  nothing  else  to  do. 

Now  the  pretty  flowers  were  made  to  bloom,  dear, 
And  the  pretty  stars  were  made  to  shine. 

And  the  pretty  girls  were  made  for  the  boys,  dear, 
And  maybe  you  were  made  for  mine. 

The  wicked  watch  dog  here  is  snarling. 

He  takes  me  for  a  thief,  you  see. 
For  he  knows  I'd  steal  you,  Molly  darling. 

And  then  transported  I  should  be. ' ' 

Many  of  the  Irish  airs  are  gay,  lively,  jovial  and  rollicking, 
none  more  so  than  the  most  popular  of  all  Irish  drinking  songs, 
^'The  Cruiskeen  Lawn,"  which  a  dear  grandmother  of  mine 
often  sang  for  me. 

''Let  the  farmer  praise  his  grounds. 

Let  the  hunter  praise  his  hounds. 

And  the  shepherd  his  sweet-scented  lawn; 

But  I,  more  blest  than  they,. 

Spend  each  happy  night  and  day 

With  my  charming  little  cruiskeen  lawn, 

Gra-ma-chree  ma  cruiskeen, 

Slainte  geal  ma  vourneen, 

Gra-ma-chree  a  coolin  bawn  bawn  bawn, 

0  Gra-ma-chree  a  coolin  bawn. 

There  is  one  song  that  is  perhaps  the  nearest  and  dearest 


JOHN  F.  McGRATH  317 

to  our  hearts.  It  is  the  song  of  the  prospective  exile.  It  is  de- 
spair and  hope.  It  is  pathos  and  bliss.  It  is  unity  and  love;  it 
comes  to  us  a  vagrant  song  we  know  not  from  whom,  ''The 
Wearing  of  the  Green : ' ' 

''0  Paddy  dear,  and  did  you  hear  the  news  that's  goin'  round'? 

The  shamrock  is  forbid  by  law  to  grow  on  Irish  ground; 

St.  Patrick's  day  no  more  we'll  keep,  his  colors  can't  be  seen. 

For  there's  a  bloody  law  agin  the  wearing  of  the  green. 

I  met  with  Napper  Tandy,  and  he  took  me  by  the  hand, 

And  he  said,  ''How's    poor    old    Ireland,  and  how  does  she 

stand.?" 
She's  the  most  distressful  country  that  ever  yet  was  seen, 
They  are  hanging  men  and  women  for  the  wearing  of  the  green. 

Then  since  the  color  we  must  wear  is  England's  cruel  red. 
Sure  Ireland's  sons  will  ne'er  forget  the  blood  that  they  have 

shed. 
You  may  take  the  shamrock  from  your  hat  and  cast  it  on  the 

sod. 
But  'twill  take  root  and  flourish  still,  though  under  foot  it's 

trod, 
When  the  law  can  stop  the  blades  of  grass  from  growing  as  they 

grow. 
And  when  the  leaves  in  summer-time  their  verdure  dare  not 

show. 
Then  I  will  change  the  color  that  I  wear  in  my  caubeen, 
But  till  that  day,  please  God,  I'll  stick  to  wearing  of  the  green." 

In  all  these  songs  there  is  a  genuine  warmth  of  soul,  a  hos- 
pitality of  welcome,  a  touching  tenderness,  a  faith  in  God,  and 
a  standard  of  morality  not  found  in  the  songs  of  other  countries. 
In  them  one  finds  no  maudlin  sentiment,  no  morbid  sensuous- 
ness,  no  inane  and  meaningless  phrases,  no  degenerate  love, 
but  a  love  and  reverence  for  mother,  for  home,  for  country,  and 
for  God.    One  finds  in  their  songs  what  he  finds  in  their  people. 

There  are  many  songs,  poems,  and  books  alleged  to  be 
Irish  which  falsely  represent  Irish  life  and  Irish  character.  The 
mischief  that  these  vile  things  have  done  is  indeed  incalculable. 
There  are  some  people  whose  dwarfed  mentality,  or  want  of 
any,  misleads  them  to  the  belief  that  the  injection  of  the  name 
Barney,  or  Larry,  or  Mickey,  or  a  splash  here  and  there  from 
the  Lakes  of  Killarney,  or  the  introduction  of  a  Father  ' '  Tom, ' ' 
or  a  saturating  with  a  coarse  and  false  brogue,  makes  an  Irish 
poem;  that  a  jangle  of  sharps  and  flats  linked  with  a  few  sen- 


318        IRELAND'S   CONTRIBUTION   TO    ENGLISH   LITERATURE 

tences  about  a  Colleen,  or  Acushla,  or  Asthore,  or  MaCree, 
makes  an  Irish  song;  that  a  tale  about  Paddy  the  rake,  or  a 
blunderer,  or  a  hapi3y-go-lucky  adventurer,  or  a  swaggering, 
staggering,  rollicking  tippler  makes  an  Irish  story.  They  bear 
too  clearly  the  broad  seal  of  some  white  light  heretic.  You  can- 
not make  an  Irishman.    You  can  only  be  born  one. 

You  can  see  an  Italian  sunset  only  in  Italy.  You  can  feel 
the  hallowness  of  the  earth  of  Calvary  only  in  the  Holy  City. 
You  can  see  the  mighty  pyramids  only  in  Egypt.  They  belong 
there.  They  cannot  be  removed.  So  also  you  can  find  the  mel- 
ody of  Irish  song,  the  pathos  of  Irish  poetry,  the  wit,  the  beauty, 
the  playful  fancy  of  Irish  story  rising  out  of  an  Irish  soul  alone. 

However  limited  the  time  within  which  we  are  permitted  to 
refer  to  a  few  of  the  jewels  shining  in  the  literary  diadem  of 
Ireland,  we  would  indeed  be  recreant  and  wanting  if  we  did  not 
make  some  allusion  to  Francis  Mahony's  poem  that  immortal- 
ized Shandon  Church,  sitting  in  the  heart  of  the  City  of  Cork. 
Its  rhythmical  measure  which  fascinates  the  ear  with  the  con- 
tinued recurrence  of  its  melodious  swing,  gives  its  autlior  im- 
perishable fame.  A  single  verse  is  sufficient  to  attest  the  merit 
of  this: 

'  *  With  deep  affection 
And  recollection 
I  often  think  of 
Those  Shandon  Bells, 
Whose  sounds  so  wild  would 
In  the  days  of  childhood 
Fling  round  my  cradle 
Their  magic  spells. 
On  this  I  ponder 
Where'er  I  wander, 
And  thus  grow  fonder. 
Sweet  Cork  of  thee ; 
With  thy  bells  of  Shandon, 
That  sound  so  grand  on 
The  Pleasant  waters 
Of  the  river  Lee." 

Beautiful  as  thy  hills  and  lakes,  0  Emerald  Isle,  is  the 
story  of  thy  children  in  literature!  Broad  as  the  sweet  tones 
of  thy  harp  has  been  their  influence!  Thou  held  the  literary 
scepter  of  Europe  for  centuries!  The  darkness  of  night  came 
upon  thee,  and  thy  children,  driven  for  light  to  other  climes, 
have  embroidered  their  genius,  their  fancy,  and  their  morality 


JOHN  F.  McGRATH 


319 


on  the  mantles  of  other  peoples.  But  a  new  day  is  breaking. 
The  first  gleam  of  a  golden  sun  comes  glimmering  over  the  hills 
of  tomorrow.  May  the  brilliance  of  this  new  day  light  thee 
with  unfading  radiance!  May  thy  fields,  thy  hills,  thy  valleys, 
thy  rivers,  and  thy  lakes  glisten  with  a  new  joy  on  a  contented, 
a  cultured,  and  a  God-fearing  people ! 


Date  Due 

h~i^^H^ 

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(^ 

, 

BOSTON  COLLEGE 


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.102506 


BOSTON   COLLEGE  LIBRARY 

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